#i get it i haven't seen rebels but you could at least make a good show

[teememdee]

I enjoyed this show for exactly one thing and they couldn't even wrap any of it up in an even remotely satisfying way. When I tell you that was one of my least favorite star wars things I've watched

[ratboyy-withtheexistentialdread]

Nevermore Chapter 97

Spoilers ahead, lads. Skedaddle if you don't fast pass. EDIT I guess I’ve said too much in this post and need to pull it back a little. So imma gonna edit it so it doesn’t say too much about this chapter.

Alright, first my reaction cause HOLY HELL those last few panels really got me like

I really had to put my phone down and talk myself through them. Now, lets talk about what I gained from this chapter and the infamous Annabel Lee. I've noticed, at least in the comment section, the fandom really doesn't care for Annabel's character and its difficult to know where the animosity has come from. Tumblr obviously loves her but us heathens support women's rights and wrongs (Don't we gents?) Many call her a sociopath or what’s happens in the last few panels. Annabel is indeed ruthless, calculating and stone cold but she obviously cares. She cares for Lenore above everything. It can be easy to see this as obsession as we really haven't seen her care about much else or even herself. But one comment on the Webtoon brought up a very valid point which I've also picked up on.

Annabel and Lenore in life were very isolated and broken people when they met one another. Annabel, broken and then rebuilt into a prim and proper lady. Lenore, broken physically and mentally and closed off from the world.

Meeting each other saved them. They were no longer alone. There was an understanding between them at least that we know of.

Their differences though is what divides them in death.

Annabel played games, and masked her true self around her father and family connections. She now makes games of situations to retain what little control she had in life over a society she knew she could never break the rules of. A Game that was always rigged against her.

Lenore rebelled against society. She fled the estate to escape a suitor, was bound to the attic and ostracized by her family, she then faked her death and posed as man to court Annabel, the one person who cared for her.

Lenore wants to break the rules of the deans Death Game. Annabel wants to follow them.

It’s all they’ve ever known.

Before it was only them that mattered. Now Lenore has so much more to fight for and Annabel still only has Lenore. Both are right in their own way of playing the game but it pains the other to witness.

Annabel, I’m sure is aware that the Deans are not all they seem to be and won’t simply allow the students to turn the tables on them if they played how Lenore wants to.

And playing Annabel’s way means the callous death of many many people that do deserve another chance at life.

Now. I do have to agree with Annabel in the sense that Lenore forgets

This is a Death Game

Right now the “villainous” characters show their true face with pride and the “hero’s” are charming and true but as we get down to the wire, it’s going to get grey. There are no good or bad at the end of these games, only survival.

Could Annabel show some restraint and more tact when speaking strategy and making plans with Lenore? Absolutely. She’s little too giddy about sweeping some pieces off the board.

Lenore also needs to stop being so naive. She saw first hand what exactly the Deans are capable of in Dreamland, it put the fear of god in her.

In fairness to both characters though they and we are still missing big pieces of what happened between them and what their causes of death were. Which could hold big aspects of their characterization.

Maybe Lenore was originally very callous about others. In life, aside from Theo and Annabel, we’ve never really seen her interact with others. Perhaps this is the Lenore Annabel speaks of.

Anyway, I’m rambling. In conclusion, I’m a bit disappointed in Nevermores comment section. I enjoy Annabel’s character although some parts do worry me a bit but I have hope Red and Flynn have plans to curve this to a satisfying reason and conclusion.

That cliffhanger, boy howdy, what the fuck is Lenore gonna do…

[whumperstorm]

Supressing Fire - Part 3.5

Content: vampire whumper, defiant whumpee, mild violence, begging, crying

Two scenes from Keegan's captivity that aren't quite long enough their own chapters. Featuring Keegan trying to rebel however she can, and Kane earning his "Not As Much of a Jerk as You Could Have Been" Award.

Part 1/Previous/Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One evening, as Kane feeds, Keegan's eyes wander over his shoulder. She just barely suppresses a gasp when she sees it. Her little art project, taped to her punching bag and crumpled from numerous bouts of abuse by Keegan's fists. It was an excellent improvement to her self care routine, in her opinion. After Kane's generous donation of fresh bruises after she “sighed disrespectfully" last week. But one that should not have been left out after use.

Keegan rips her gaze away from it and stares a hole into the floor instead. Maybe he won't see it?

Of course he sees it.

"What is that?" he demands, stalking toward it and ripping the paper off--a crude portrait of what looks to be him. Scribbled in crayons.

"Um-" She says dumbly. "You weren't supposed to see that."

"It's not supposed to fucking be in my house!" Kane tears the paper in two, crumpling it and tossing it to the floor. "I thought this punching bag was supposed to make you better behaved, not a sneaky, disobedient little brat. Maybe I should take it away after all, if it's doing you no good!"

The best way Keegan knows to get out of this mess is to apologize. To show respect and beg Kane for forgiveness so he doesn't get angrier. That is not what she does.

"Oh come on, It's just a drawing!" She huffs. "I've been good haven't I? This wouldn't have bothered you at all if you hadn't seen it!"

Kane storms over and backhands her across the face.

"I will not tolerate disrespect!" he screams. "This is not what being good looks like! You will learn your place!"

The strike hurts. Keegan's head snaps to the side and she lets out a shout of pain, but she doesn’t back down. "My God, grow a fucking spine!!" She spits, standing up to tower over him. "I've been your perfect little pet for months! Since I can't knock your lights out, I used what I got. At least this Kane was nicer to look at!"

Kane shoves her, sending her toppling to the ground, then lands a hard kick in her side.

"You've improved. I'd hardly call you perfect," he spits. "This is exactly the problem with you. Nothing works. You know what? Say goodbye to the punching bag. Clearly, this isn't working." He goes to take it down.

For some reason, that sends a jolt of panic through Keegan's chest. More so than the abuse. She fights to get air back into her lungs and reaches out towards Kane.

"W-wait!"

It's not really about the bag. She has other amenities. But they're all generic. The bag is the only thing that's hers. A piece of her personality to light up her dreadful little prison.

She can't bear the thought of losing what little she has.

Keegan pulls herself up to kneel respectfully. "Don't take it, I-I'm sorry." It may not be enough now. Not after her outburst.

It's fake. So obviously fake, how she only deigns to respect Kane when she has something to lose. It only fans the fire inside him further. He needs to break her foolish pride.

He glares down at her. "Beg."

Keegan glares a hole into the floor. She hates him. She hates him with every cell in her body. But punching bag or not, she can't back out now. Any more rebellion and she'll be black and blue for days.

She hangs her head, face burning in shame. "Please... sir. I'm sorry. Please give me another chance... No more disrespect, whether you're present or not."

"Hmph. I'll believe it when I see it. Watch it, human. I'm the one in control here."

And with that, Kane leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Keegan lets out a breath when he leaves. Never has she felt more helpless and tiny. She can’t even exist in peace without the threat of Kane’s interference. Everything is a fight in this place. A fight she's bound to lose each and every time.

But, well... she glances up. At least she still has the punching bag.

She groans, flopping miserably back down into bed.

------

Things continue as normal from there. Kane still needs to violently discipline his human on a regular basis, but the frequency has gone down a bit. He wonders if it's really the punching bag, or just a coincidence. The fact that it seems to be making her behave better is the only reason he doesn't go through with taking it away.

Many months pass and they fall into a routine. Some days are bad, with a defiant human he needs to correct, and some days are good, with the human coming out and playing chess or watching movies with him, countering his debilitating loneliness. 

One such good day, while they're watching a movie, the protagonist goes to celebrate his birthday. Kane usually skips this part, hating the sour reminder, but he doesn't want to raise questions from the human. He lets it play without comment.

In all honesty, Keegan hasn't thought about her birthday at all. She's had too much on her mind and no one around to remind her that it's coming up. But the movie scene has her realizing what month they're in. Her birthday is in three days. She’s hit with a wave of depressed bitterness. 

It was nowhere near her birthday when she was kidnapped, so it's yet another reminder of how long she's been here. Not only that, but she's turning twenty-one. That's a pretty big milestone and she gets to what, sit in an empty room and sing happy birthday to herself? She won't even get a hug from her sister. She knows her hunting guild enjoys throwing surprise parties. She wonders if they'd have planned one for her. 

Her thoughts spiral, and to her horror, she starts to cry. She hardly ever cries. She hates crying in front of others, and here she is sobbing in front of Kane of all people. She tries to hold it back, silent tears falling down her cheeks. She can't even excuse herself. She has to ask to do anything around here and he'll obviously notice her tears if she asks to leave. She sits there rigidly, until eventually a tiny, involuntary sob escapes.

Kane is so wrapped up in his own birthday-adjacent pity party that he doesn't notice the human crying until he hears her sob. He turns to her, caught off-guard. "What's wrong?" he asks. He hasn't been disciplining her, so he's not sure why she's upset.

Keegan is mortified. She hastily scrubs at her face to wipe away the tears, like that'll somehow make it less obvious. God he's actually asking what's wrong? Like he'd care about a human's birthday of all things. He'd probably get mad that she's even making a fuss about it. She can already hear his cruel comment. ‘You’re not a person. You’re food. You don’t have a birthday.’ 

"It’s- it’s fine." She dismisses. "Can I go back to my room?"

Kane turns off the movie. Something isn't right here. The human's never acted like this before.

"Tell me what's wrong and then you can go," he compromises. Maybe he's feeling soft because of the feelings thinking about his birthday dredged up, or maybe it's the disappointment at a nice night spent not on his lonesome being cut short. "You won't be in trouble."

Keegan puts her head in her hands for a moment, sighing. Even her own sadness doesn't belong to her. But, at least he said she won't be in trouble, and Kane has yet to lie to her. "It's not important. I just... realized my birthday is in three days." Her voice grows quieter as she speaks, mumbling by the end and looking away as fresh tears bubble up. "Can I go now?" She wants nothing more than to get away from this humiliating situation.

For the first time, Kane feels some sort of connection with his human, some sort of guilt for his actions. Here she is, unable to celebrate her birthday- because of him.

"You may go," he concedes, trying to process the unfamiliar emotions.

Keegan wastes no time, scurrying back to her room. She spends a while in the bathroom, calming down and washing her face. She doesn't even feel like using the punching bag, instead lying in bed wallowing in self pity the rest of the night. The conversation isn't brought back up in the following days, so Keegan hopes that's the end of it. The evening of her birthday however, she wakes up in an awful mood.

Kane, for the life of him, decides to do research. It's embarrassing, going to the library and asking for books on human celebrations, but he does it anyway. Most of what he finds is anthropological research on human religious practices, but he does eventually find something on birthdays. Human birthday celebrations seem to be similar to vampire ones in many ways, except for the cake. The cake is apparently a very big part of it, a large, sweet human food. Other than that, the customs of parties and presents are similar. 

On the night of Keegan's birthday, Kane comes in and feeds from her as normal. Just because it's her birthday doesn't mean he doesn't need to eat. But after that... "I have something for you. Come on out." He turns to exit the human quarters, gesturing for her to follow him out.

Keegan endures the bite. Same bullshit as always. When Kane invites her out, she follows, curiously. She'd rather stay holed up in her room today, but Kane doesn't usually get her things she hasn’t asked for.

Waiting on the mug table is a large, elaborate birthday cake, the kind that must have cost hundreds of dollars. Next to it is a medium-sized gift wrapped in shiny paper.

"Happy birthday," Kane says awkwardly.

Keegan stares in utter shock. "You- what?" She looks at Kane, then back at the table. Is he serious? It can't be a prank. She can tell from here that the cake is real. But this is a man who has stolen her life away, and her blood, and abused her countless times over the past months. And who's now celebrating her birthday?

"...Why?" She asks quietly.

Kane glances briefly at her, then realizes he's far too embarrassed of his own sincerity to make eye contact, and stares forward at the table instead. "It's your birthday. It deserves to be celebrated."

"oh..." Keegan is tearing up again, but controls it better this time. It feels like a piece of her humanity has returned. She might be nothing but food here, and constantly referred to as "human" instead of by name, but she's still deserving of a birthday? That's a better gift than anything that could be in that box. She still doesn't understand why he cares, he’s the one who put her in this situation after all, but it’s something.

“Thank you…” She steps hesitantly towards it, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, but when he doesn't stop her she kneels down next to the table. "Can I open it?" She asks, reaching for the gift.

"You're welcome. Go ahead," Kane encourages. This is weird. Vampires aren't supposed to celebrate their humans' birthdays. She's food. But... he can't deny her this. He just can't.

When Keegan opens the gift, she finds some very fancy hard cider inside.

"I wasn't sure... um. This was one thing I knew you liked that you didn't already have," Kane explains. "Just for your birthday. No refills."

She's not sure why, maybe the way he awkwardly explains himself, or how ridiculous the whole situation is, but it has Keegan bursting out into laughter.

She doesn't want Kane to think she's mocking him so she quickly sputters out, "This is great, thanks." She takes a breath to get control over herself then adds, "You gonna be able to survive my nasty alcohol blood?"

"I'll manage," Kane says, unoffended. In his eyes, she's only insulting herself.

The rest of the night is a peaceful one, spent doing whatever activities the human wants. Though Kane grimaces at the taste of her blood on occasion as she makes her way through the cider in the coming weeks, he makes no comment on it. It was her birthday gift.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @whumpsday @not-a-space-alien @anomalys-taxonomy @what-if-i-just-did @dragonqueenslayer6 @jumpywhumpywriter @writereleaserepeat

[opreaadriann]

Side Story - Olivia Meets The Fighting Rooster

Ah, Thomas Rourke High. A name synonymous with caviar-fueled lunches and trust funds the size of Rhode Island. And now, miraculously, it was my stomping ground. Maybe it was the familiar faces – a carryover from my elementary school days – or maybe it was the fierce determination to ditch my "loser" label. Whatever it was, a surprising calm washed over me.

Let's be honest, I haven't exactly been prom queen material. But after a full-on makeover that would make even a Kardashian jealous, I was ready to infiltrate the ranks of the popular. Maybe even snag a friend or two who wouldn't mysteriously "disappear" when I came around. But fate, it seems, had other plans. My attempt at a friendly bus ride ended with an empty seat beside me. Guess my makeover needed some work.

Emerging from the bus, I was greeted by a sight that could curdle milk.  My "old" acquaintances were rolling up in style. Not cars, mind you, that'd be pedestrian. No, these paragons of popularity had graduated to a freaking limo. Yes, the big five, Michael, Cecily, Vivian, Isaac, and Haley all get out of a fucking limo. It’s probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. Weird, Connor is not with them. They always used to walk hand in hand back in elementary school.

(...)

Well, that was a good start to my school life. The rest of the day I attend my first classes and get to know the teachers, only to realize I somehow haven’t talked to any of my colleagues yet. Lunchtime is here and I go to the cafeteria to finally make some friends.

I walk into the large room and the first thing I see is a person I really don’t like, getting right up into my face.

“I knew it! You’re Olivia Hartley, right? Remember me? Isaac Freeman! We went to the same elementary school!”

“...What do you want, freckles?”

I quickly scout the room to see where his friends are and notice that they are already sitting next to a group of older-looking students. Damn, they’re already in with the seniors?

The kids around stop to watch the interaction between us as I seem to establish myself as the opposition to the popular kids. Oo, I’d love to represent the rebels of the school! That’s pretty cool, right?

Isaac comes closer and whispers in my ear, “Don’t act like we’re not friends, bitch.” He then takes a step back, smiles, and gets up in my personal space again to hug me, “I’m so happy to see you! Come, sit with us!”

Luckily I really hate this guy, so I say, “Nah, I’d rather sit alone.”

I can hear a couple of oohs and aahs as the cool kids table suddenly looks at the interaction with more interest. Ah, yes, the beef between two freshmen is too interesting to miss out on.

Isaac decides to back down for now and just smiles, “Sure thing, go right ahead!” He then walks back to the cool kids table and starts talking about something with my old colleagues and the seniors. I walk ahead to get some food as some people start talking to me. Before I knew it, the tallest guy at Isaac’s table – a walking wall of muscle – rose on top of his chair.

"Attention, cafeteria!" he boomed, clapping his hands. "From now on, nobody talks to Olivia Hartley, or they'll answer to me!" He glares around the room, then leans down to Vivian. A moment later, he straightens up and points at me. "The goth chick. Nobody talks to her."

All of the guys and girls sitting at the cool kids table start laughing as the people who were talking to me earlier start walking away. Eh, that could have gone worse. At least everyone knows who I am. That's the closest I’ll get to being popular, huh?

🙇 Full story on Patreon. 🙇

[martianbugsbunny]

Rainbow Mists In Which He Stands (A Kalluzeb Fic)

Had to do something short and sweet for these guys, I'm being consumed by them. I haven't decided yet if I might expand this into a three-part series, with this one, a Kanera one, and a Sabezra one (which, fair warning, would probably be platonic bc I have complicated feelings about them being a couple). The point is, this is a delightful little break for Kalluzeb and they're having a nice time together. IN case you were wondering, the title is another Wayne Visser reference; that part of the poem kinda melted and gooified together in my brain like crayons left in the sun with that art @kappamelone did of trans kallus a little while ago to create my favorite scene in here (which will be terribly obvious when you see it). Read on and enjoy!

The crew of the Ghost had been offered (ordered) shore leave for a few days after a stunning misadventure involving Chopper, a bag of explosives, and a remarkable inability to count. Kanan said it was because their nerves were all stripped after that; Hera muttered about being put in time-out and kicked a couple of crates.

Zeb, like Ezra and Sabine, didn’t really care why they had been sent away to a remote moon for a bit of quiet time. He joined them in making excited plans about how to make the most of it, especially after learning that Kallus had been commanded to go with them.

“They want me to keep an eye on you,” he said, then a little more irately, “I’m pretty sure Rebel Command is as sick of me as they are of you.” Having been recruited into the Rebellion by the Specters, he had picked up their annoying habits of rarely listening to orders in the way in which they were intended.

But once again, Zeb didn’t care why Kallus had been packed up and shipped off with the Ghost’s crew, and he convinced Kallus to stop caring at least until they got back from leave. Then he could be annoyed about it all he liked.

The minute they landed, Ezra and Sabine raced out of the Ghost, shoving each other to the side, to take in the view. The planet was warm, covered in tall trees with vines hanging from the branches and brightly colored spiky flowers. Zeb had never seen another planet quite like it; the kids probably hadn’t, either.

Kanan and Zeb sat down together on the ramp, while Hera went through her post-flight checks and powered down the ship. “I used to go camping with the other Honor Guards,” Zeb said. He was still a little bit surprised, himself, every time he mentioned his life on Lasan. It seemed to happen more frequently these days; he wondered if maybe letting go of his pain enough to make room in his life for Kallus had helped him be more at peace with it in general. “I could show the kids how to set up tents.”

Kanan smiled, his head tilted towards where Sabine was gushing over how good the spiky flowers would be as pigments for her paints. “They’d get a real kick out of that,” he said. “You’ll probably have to drag Hera off the Ghost by her ankles, though.”

“What about my ankles?” Hera sat down between them, leaning against Kanan’s arm. “I guess—to spare you boys the effort—I could be convinced to spend the night outside. Sleeping among the stars is one thing, but there’s something special about sleeping under them, too.”

Kanan’s grin grew wider, and he kissed the side of Hera’s head. “You old romantic,” he teased.

Zeb rolled his eyes, standing up to stretch. “I’ll get the tents,” he said. Let those two have their moment. He went back into the Ghost and hefted the top off of a storage crate that he’d stuffed a couple of tents into before leaving the base. He’d only been able to find three; he expected Sabine and Hera would probably share a tent and leave Ezra and Kanan to commune with the new planet’s nature in that Jedi way of theirs—and of course he and Kallus would bunk together.

Speaking of Kallus, where had he gotten off to? He was prone to sort of drifting off while everyone else was busy, and half the time he neglected to even mention to Zeb where he was going. It was hard for him, Zeb thought, when he was with the Spectres; they had been a family unit when he met them, and he hadn’t figured out how to integrate into it just yet.

Zeb stopped to set down the tents outside before following the path that Kallus’s boots had left in the soft grass. Ezra and Sabine had stopped their frenzied exploration to lay back on the ground for a minute, and he gently nudged Sabine’s shoulder with his foot as he passed. It was good for them to enjoy themselves. They didn’t get to be kids often enough.

He didn’t mind getting the time to relax himself. He didn’t really care how long it would take him to catch up to Kallus, with fresh, greenery-scented air to breathe and nothing to distract him from appreciating the scenery. There were certain bright orange flowers that reminded him of ones that grew on Lasan, and soft white ones that looked like the drifts of snow on Bahryn.

Zeb finally stopped when he saw the waterfall up ahead. It was one of the most stunning views he’d ever seen.

Standing at the very edge of the fall, feet submerged in the pool it created, was Kallus, shirt, jacket, and boots discarded on a nearby rock, his head tilted back ever-so-slightly and his damp hair clinging to his face and neck. Where the water spilled across his freckled shoulders, it shifted and shimmered in the light, the mist forming a rainbow in the air like a cape.

There was that feeling Zeb was still trying to get used to: looking at Kallus and being sure that his heart was going to beat against his lungs so hard he would pass out, like there wasn’t enough room for love and oxygen in him at the same time and his body would rather go without the oxygen. It was easy to say he had never been in love with anyone the way he had fallen for Kallus. He wondered sometimes at the designs of the Ashla, but he was certain it had guided them towards each other, softening each of them in turn to make what they had now possible.

Zeb released a sigh and walked across the clearing to stand at the edge of the pool. “Enjoying nature all by yourself, handsome?” he teased. Kallus’s face instantly broke into a wide, unguarded smile, such that Zeb only ever saw when they were alone together, his amber eyes lighting like sparks from a flint. There weren’t many lines by those eyes yet; like Zeb, Kallus had spent more of his life frowning or scowling than he had smiling, but he was making some progress. A few of the worry lines, at least, seemed to have become less pronounced, now that Kallus was a little bit less tense than he had been as an Imperial agent.

“I don’t have to be,” Kallus said. Zeb stepped into the shallow water and waded over to Kallus, ripples fanning out around his legs as he walked.

Zeb cupped his hands around Kallus’s upper ribcage, thumbs covering the beautiful twin scars beneath his pectorals. The lines were thick and pale, mostly even; only jagged at the edges. “Have I ever told you how much I like these?” he asked, leaning his forehead against Kallus’s.

“Every time you see me with my shirt off,” Kallus answered, resting his hands on Zeb’s forearms.

“Which isn’t often enough for my taste,” Zeb said. Kallus laughed (Ashla, did Zeb love that deep, hoarse laugh), fingers playing across a set of dark purple stripes that were a little bit darker still than the others on Zeb’s body.

“How long do you think we have before they miss us?” Kallus asked. His face was flushed from sun—it made the freckles on his face seem just a little bit more vivid by contrast.

“A half hour before the kids hunt me down to set up the tents.”

Kallus smiled at him, more softly than before, but with just as much earnestness. “Ever the family man, aren’t you, Garazeb.”

Then he put his arms around Zeb’s neck and kissed him, and there was nothing on the planet except the two of them and the stones beneath their feet and the mists spilling across their shoulders, and for just a moment nothing could ever be wrong again.

[loreholdlesbian]

Modern Horizons III Play Booster Challenge

With every set, I like to make a booster of custom cards that could be a part of the set. This one took a while, because of terminal brain no worky disease, but we got there. Hopefully I'll get bloomburrow out before Duskmourn releases, but no promises. Modern Horizons sets are always fun though, lots of funky designs you can do you can't do anywhere else. Which is perfect for this challenge- it's based on a challenge from GDS3, so I always try to be innovative in this challenge as if it were for that. This set had a few slots that were flux in their rarity, so I got to pick what those are, so there's a few rares and a several uncommons.

Art links:

Peaceful Retirement

Scion of Verdant Leylines

Fluxsteel Armor

Prophet of Broken Futures

Aether Excavation

Mutagenic Shell

Swallowing Wastewalker

Practiced Artistry

Bog Boon

Nyxborn Parasite

Forge Eidolon

Lumitusk Monstrosity

Moon Skulkin

Gauntlet of Strength

Rares

Card transcription

Peaceful Retirement 3W Enchantment Whenever an attacking creature you control dies, return it to the battlefield with a defender counter and an exalted counter on it. (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each instance of exalted among permanents you control.)

End transcription

If there's one thing about me that'll be very evident by the end of this booster, I really love counters. Defender counters are one that haven't popped up yet, but I feel like they're sure to eventually. Here's me doing them. This is meant to work with the modified theme. This card is good at letting you play both defensively and offensively, with the exalted even making your offense continually better.

Card transcription

Scion of Verdant Leylines 4GG Enchantment Creature- Giant If Scion of Verdant Leylines is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield. If you do, it isn’t a creature. Trample Whenever an opponent is dealt combat damage by one or more green creatures you control, draw a card. 6/6

End transcription

Here's a variant on the leylines we've seen before; this time, they give you more if you play them for real rather than cheating them out. The limitation to green creatures acts as both a power limiter and a color pie one. I am worried a bit about the fact that you can blink this to get a big creature with this ability, but blinking enchantments is difficult at least.

Uncommons

Card transcription

Fluxsteel Armor 1W Artifact- Equipment For Mirrodin! (When this Equipment enters, create a 2/2 red Rebel creature token, then attach this to it.) Aura or Equipment swap 2W (2W: Exchange this Equipment with an Aura or Equipment from your hand.)

End transcription

And here comes the world's strangest equipment- no boost to the equipped creature, and no equip ability. For the longest time- literally I changed the card as I was writing this up- this had living weapon like the other equipment in the set (and gave the equipped creature +1/+1). But For Mirrodin! just works better. It makes the card more viable as a draft pick on its own as a better creature, and also even more importantly it makes it work better with more cards in the set, since the auras and equipment that swap in don't need to give a toughness boost. I liked the flavor of the living weapon version better, and it was more in line with the set, but the design is just better. This really isn't an equipment though, that's a lie. It's a token generator for aura and equipment decks. But I do think this is the best way to format this, cause it's hard to make "token body for an aura to attach to" work without it.

Card transcription

Prophet of Broken Futures 3 C/U Creature- Eldrazi Drone Devoid (This card has no color.) Ingest (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of their library.) When this creature dies, draw a card for each card exiled with it. 3/4

End transcription

The thing about ingest is I don't actually think it's a bad mechanic, it just was used in the worst way possible. This card is my attempt to rectify that, and show it could be better. The other thing here is the hybrid colorless/colored mana. I think it's a great way to increase the amount of colorless-costing stuff in an environment without taking away from the colored cards it needs.

Card transcription

Aether Excavation 1R Sorcery You get EE (two energy counters). Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Then you may pay EEEEE. If you do, you may play that card without paying its mana cost. Retrace (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)

End transcription

One kind of design I like to do with recursion mechanics is making it so the card plays differently on future castings- and energy is great for this. So great there's another one later on in this booster. It means you can build up the energy on the first few castings, and then eventually get to spend it. This card certainly works a lot better in an energy deck, where you can free cast spells more often, but I think it plays well just on its own.

Card transcription

Mutagenic Shell 1G Artifact- Equipment Equipped creature has “Whenever you cast a spell, you may adapt X where X is that spell’s mana value.” (If that creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put X +1/+1 counters on it.) Equip 2

End transcription

Fun fact- adapt is keyword action, so you can use it as part of triggered abilities. That felt like fun design space to explore that ties in well with the modified theme, especially on an equipment. And I just liked making an equipment you move around a lot; you try to get it on a creature right before you cast a big spell, and then it does its thing but only once per creature.

Commons

Card transcription

Swallowing Wastewalker 5 C/W Creature- Eldrazi Devoid (This card has no color.) When this creature enters, exile target creature an opponent controls until this creature leaves the battlefield. Basic landcycling C/W (C/W, Discard this card: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand, then shuffle.) 3/7

End transcription

Here's some more exploration of hybrid to up the amount of colorless mana in the set. I thought it made a good fit for a basic landcycling cycle, so you can use them to search up wastes if you need colorless mana or search up colored mana if you've drawn too many of your colorless producers.

Card transcription

Practiced Artistry 1U Sorcery Choose one- * Scry 2. You get EE (two energy counters). * Pay EE. If you do, draw two cards. Flashback 1U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

End transcription

Here's the other card that uses energy on a recursive spell. In an energy deck, this card is quite flexible. You might choose to get the energy both times, or you might be able to pay to draw both times. But in a non energy deck, the energy still lets you split up paying the 4 mana for scry 2 draw 2 in a way that wouldn't be possible without energy.

Card transcription

Bog Boon 2B Instant Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn. Put a wither counter on it. (That creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

End transcription

As I said in the beginning, I'm a counter girlie. I started around the time of Scars of Mirrodin, I can't help myself. And I really like the idea of wither, for a keyword counter, it just seems like good fun. So I wanted to make a simple common that used it.

Card transcription

Nyxborn Parasite 2B Enchantment Creature- Leech Bestow B (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it’s an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it’s not attached to a creature.) Lifelink 3/2

End transcription

This set has a bestow theme, and I wanted to see ways to explore how to use it. This one doesn't use it as an aura at all, it just uses it as a cost reduction mechanic, that makes it so there's a delay before you get your creature. You need a creature to attach it to, and need that creature to die.

Card transcription

Forge Eidolon 3R Enchantment Creature- Spirit Bestow onto artifact 3R (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it’s an Aura spell with enchant artifact. It becomes a creature again if it’s not attached to an artifact.) Enchanted artifact is an artifact creature with base power and toughness 4/4. 4/4

End transcription

Here's the other new thing I wanted to do with bestow. Modern horizons does designs like this all the time, a slight variant on a keyword, and it works well on bestow. This also ties into the RB artifacts theme, but at worst is just a well statted creature.

Card transcription

Lumitusk Monstrosity 4G Creature- Elephant Fish Beast Splice onto creature G (As you cast a creature spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card’s effects to that spell.) This creature enters with a vigilance counter on it. 5/5

End transcription

"Splice onto creature" is something i've experimented with for a while, and entering with counters is the best execution i've come up with. As with many of the designs here, it does something a bit weird, but it's also just perfectly serviceable as a well statted creature.

Card transcription

Moon Skulkin 2 Artifact Creature- Scarecrow 4: Target colorless creature gains flying until end of turn. 2/2 Even with Emrakul trapped in the silver moon, some souls still thrum to the sound of her whispers.

End transcription

There was a cycle of scarecrows in shadowmoor, the skulkin, that all had an activated ability that granted a creature of a particular color an appropriate keyword. Here's a secret sixth member of the cycle, that works well with the eldrazi theme of MH3. This one can hit itself, so the ability wanted to cost a good bit.

Reprint Slot

Card transcription

Gauntlet of Strength 4 Artifact [rare] Green creatures you control get +1/+1. Whenever you tap a Forest for mana, add an additional G.

End transcription

This was a very hard slot to fill. It's expressly a reprint, in a challenge that's about making new cards. But I do like making new cards, I didn't want to just pick a reprint and say it's here. For something like the strixhaven bonus sheet, I make a design that wouldn't make sense in the main set, uses a mechanic that set doesn't use. It's hard to make a card that doesn't feel modern horizons though. So eventually, I settled on a different approach- an alternate universe kind of deal. Take a card that in theory could be a good fit for a modern horizons reprint but has a few issues preventing that, and make a new version that doesn't have those issues. In my MH2 booster, I did an alternate version of Filth that granted menace, since swampwalk isn't considered to play well these days. Here, I did an alternate version of Gauntlet of Might- a card with three main problems. Firstly, the effect is green, not red. Secondly, the effect being symmetrical doesn't play well since it's color specific, so the potential downside is very all or nothing and very random. And thirdly, that card was reserved. There's every chance this card is a bit too good even for modern, but tbh it was just what I had and I wanted to finally get this booster out.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Stalker Hunting

I've done my little bits of Horizon Forbidden West the last couple of days. There are issues about spoons, because work's a mess right now, but sometimes you just need to fuck up a bandit camp or two. Maybe dig up some greenshine. OR ... stalk the Stalkers. Literally.

Bandit camp. Poonk. Poonk. POONK. Nobody saw me. Nobody engaged. And again, one guy kept talking about how "she must have gone to lick her wounds" when a) nobody even fired a shot at me and b) EVERYONE ELSE WAS DEAD. Eh well. POONK.

So much climbing. So many near misses, close calls, and running around. But several outright slabs of greenshine so it's entirely worth it.

Ooh, hey, new form of Burrower. Hi, Burrower! ...Bye, Burrower. POONK

The Gouge is still kicking my ass. I got most of it, including the cluster, but the one remaining fucking fragment of greenshine is not worth Outlast-meets-Subnautica with fucking Burrowers. I get why you can't shoot them with an arrow underwater. But why, why can you not just stab them?

Look. Bellowbacks. Even if I am blowing you up, there should be some of your sac webbing intact enough for me to use to upgrade my weapons and armour! But no! Every time I kerboom you with a sac rupture, you deny me Bellowback Sac Webbing AND I AM FED UP WITH IT.

Time to take out my frustrations on another rebel camp. But lemme get some surrounding campfires first.

Yes, thank you, map, for finding me a route to the bandit camp by the paths. I would prefer not stroll through the front gate, thank you. So I will climb this mountain.

Ah. Here we are. Sharpshot booooooooooow ... GO.

I'm sorry. Three people just dropped dead in front of you, and you're now saying it was a false alarm?!? BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA! ...Also POONK.

Okay, no one's alerted and I haven't seen anyone but they're still playing the tense music. Maybe because of people inside that bunker?

Definitely people inside that bunker. Oh, this is going to get stupid - shield and melee stupid. Time to improvise.

YOU ARE IN TIME OUT; GO STAND IN THE CORNER. Good! Perfect! Facing the corner like something out of Blair Witch! *WHACKSTABSTABSTAB*

And the other two did not come to your rescue. They will regret that. Shorter range Hunter bow. Poonk-poonk.

(Yeah, my draw speed on that's a little insane too.)

Huh. I guess these are where some of the weapons like the one that destroyed Verbena's forcefield were being developed. ...SYLENS. YOU. LIVING. SHIT.

I mean, I probably could take some of these schematics, but if Boomer ever got hold of them... Yeah, no. I will instead make a boom that she would be PROUD OF.

Okay, and it's still telling me that there's someone in this camp. BUT I SEE NO ONE. Stealthing stealthing stealthing...

...Oh. Right. The front door I avoided like the plague getting here. There is a lone sentry scouting the area, who apparently was not alerted because I cleared the place out so quickly and quietly. Ah well. Charger first, then HEADSHOT.

Okay, I'mma head out and get a few more-- Ooh, that says "unknown settlement", and it's in territory I'm going to need.

Thank you for the news about the rebel camps. At least one in your vicinity will not be a problem anymore, sir. (Kind of wish you had the option to tell them that.)

Right. Lemme do some trading and then see what I can upgrade.

...Not much. Not enough. Guess I'm going to have to go hunting Stalkers again.

Oop. BELLOWBACK CONVOY. DETOUR.

Right. Now lemme see if killing them without hitting the big sac in the back will get me what I need. ...ohthisisgonnahurt...

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK--

(I did get way better at dodge-rolls, though. Just ... not quite better enough. Hence...)

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Right. Okay. That's enough for now. Surprisingly, Stalkers are going to be easier. So long as I'm careful about how I hit their stealth generators, since that's the part I'm after.

Approaching from a different angle and ... yeah. They really do climb now, the little fucks. Okay, that one I can see and... GONE. Tree-climbing little shit.

Huh. There's generally at least three in these areas. But the other two aren't coming out. Time to do the usual. Hide in bush ... then shoot proximity flare-mine.

Theeeeeeere you are. My vision is mostly shit but I can see your shimmer surprisingly well. POONK.

Right. Third one. Another proximity mine aaaaaaaaaand...

AW FUCK!

No, I mean, I got the Stalker, but ... there was a duck. I NEED DUCK BITS.

Heeeeeeeeeere ducky ducky ducky...

...fuck.

Well, I can at least upgrade and shop some-- Wait. Is that purple-grade Utaru infiltrator-type gear? GIMME!

Right. To upgrade it, I'm gonna neeeeeeed... Fuck.

Heeeeeeeeere, Stalker Stalker Stalker...

DUCK! Sorry; Duck first, then more Stalkers.

Okay. I can get this a little more upgraded now. For more, I'm going to neeeeeeed... Stalkers. AGAIN. Also ... oh fuck we get Scorchers back?!? AND I HAVE TO HUNT ONE?!? Fuuuuuck.

...However, I do see a Scorcher site not too far from here... And in the same vicinity as some greenshine and a rebel camp--

And I will think about that tomorrow or something.

Look. I know. I know. There is a main quest and I should be getting on with it. However, my play time is limited and my spoons more so. Also I can't decide on whether I want to go for AETHER or DEMETER first. I'm at level ... 49 now, I think? Not 50 but close, anyway. So level isn't an issue.

(See, you might ask how? But ... like ... I hunt constantly when on the move. And when you add up the various XP extras for stealth kills, head shots, weak point shots, etc? I get a lot of XP very quickly.)

Anyway, level's not an issue but what I get out of it is. On the one hand, I figure that DEMETER is probably the quest that will let me deal with those damn metal flowers. On the other hand, @true0neutral informs me that one's reward for dealing with AETHER involves a really spiffy Sharpshot bow? That can also shoot Tear arrows? Aaaaaaand I am conflicted. Heeeeeeelp.

[skiptomyylu]

Okay um- where do I begin?

Why does there seem to be a small collective of people who seem to believe that Aziraphale needs to be like...slapped across the face to realize Heaven is Bad or that he made the "wrong" ""choice"".

Like- hmmmm...

No hate to any of them I guess but it's verryyuuhh..eeeek..

I think what some people need to realize is that:

Point A. People don't HAVE to go through a super huge "glitch in the matrix" mental crumble to realize things and even if they do it doesn't guarantee a change.

Point B. Aziraphale isn't stupid in the slightest

Point C. He KNOWS this already??

Point D. We know that this doesn't guarantee growth (in G.O., idk about irl)

Point E. He didn't go back for Heaven?? (Or at least how it is)

Allow me to elaborate(Prepare to read) :

It feels like whenever people think he needs to have a big crash and burn realizaion or a very "in your face" thing that proves to him heaven is bad or something or the other...uuh...it reads off as "I've given up hope in him figuring this out on his own and nothing else will make him realize this except his own suffering.." (Not saying this is DEFINITELY think but it's what it feeeells like). Which...isn't true

(Point A)

Firstly lets say it DID happen. that won't necessarily make him LEAVE let alone REBELL. When I had my own personal kinda religious breakdowns (of sorts) I didn't just get up and leave the religion. It took me...many many years. I feel like I still haven't left it. I still look up to the heavens and say "sorry" if I feel as though I've said something too blasphemous. Personally it makes him even MORE vulnerable and MORE malleable in the hands of heaven and his god. Experiencing that kind of doubt and mental conflict is HARD. It is so difficult. One side of you is SCREAMING run and the other side is looking for ANY ounce of hope to cling on to to think "maybe it's not so bad".

(Point B and C)

But you know what's so great? Aziraphale doesn't need to experience that! HOORAAYYY! YIPEE! He's already been having his own personal thought's and conflicts about heaven for YEARS! It's been slowly chipping away for 6000 years dude! 6000 YEARS!

The Gravediggers in Edinburgh to Noahs Arc to Job. There's also, idk, him working for almost 11 years to try and redirect the child who he thought was the ANTICHRIST in order to stop the one thing Heaven and Hell longed for for years? He's been thinking and mulling things over and we have SEEN it. MULTIPLE TIMES. Aziraphale is INCREDIBLY intelligent so I promise you he already knows and there's no need for any suffering.

(Point D)

Next: We've already seen the "kill the angel you once were" thing with Crowley and that didn't make Crowley...groww per say??? Or even feel better-

We've SEEN him struggle with accepting his fall. We see he still gets emotional about it (Him in his flat looking up to Heaven and lamenting. Him getting drunk and talking about it). We know they cause him an incredible amount of stress to the point where he was willing o dump the ARCHANGEL (fucking) GABRIEL in the middle of nowhere in order to preserve his safe space.

He's called the existence on earth that they've carved out for themselves precious, peaceful, and fragile. Meaning it brings him comfort but he also feels like it could break in his hands or get destroyed for him at any moment.

All this to say: Killing off who Aziraphale is now doesn't guarantee his betterment or anything.

(Point E)

Final Point:

He did not go back for Heaven. He went back to make a difference. To change things and improve things. For the hopes he can do something to help the side of the "good guys" to start acting like fucking good guys! So yknow...theres no more need for him to try and rebel or have any breakdowns.

I hope all this makes sense. I'm like half asleep typing all of this lmao.

Time for a nap!

Luwa out!

The creepiest take I've ever seen.

You're "giddily excited" to watch a character experience a shattering psychological breakdown? That is deeply concerning.

Worse - you think it's necessary for him to go through something like that for his personal growth? What a dark world that would be, if that were the case.

(Btw he already went through a "rebelling against heaven psychological breakdown moment" in Uz. But that's a bit of a side issue here. After all, the main takeaway from that scene is how utterly f*cked-up it is that he, and Crowley, had to experience something like that at all.)

Friends, if anyone ever tells you you need to "experience a death of self" to grow as a person - RUN.

This is giving the same energy as the "we must die to ourselves in order to give ourselves fully to God" crap that the worst fundamentalists I encountered growing up tried to stuff down people's throats. It's deeply disturbing to me to find variations of that attitude outside of toxic religious communities. I was hoping it was confined there, but apparently not.

People who don't have the qualifications need to stick FAAAAAAR away from this kind of "psychological" analysis. "Kill the angel he once was in order to let the individual shine" is pseudoscientific BS. (Let's not forget Crowley is by no means happy to be a demon, and was just as happy, happier in fact, before he fell.)

This kind of attitude is genuinely dangerous.

[universallywriting]

I have no idea if you're still in to SU and I think you may have already answered a question like this before or in your older posts regarding Rose and her actions having some very negative consequences, like Steven suffering badly from it. Do you think if Rose as pink still, should have confronted the diamonds about everything instead of doing the fake death thing she did that led to everyone getting corrupted? This is something I am kind of wondering about sometimes very strongly when this comes to mind wondering if it's a good idea because she's taking responsibility for her actions but then at the same time given the diamonds attitudes, especially White Diamond who didn't listen to Steven and pulled out his gem anyways. I felt like asking that's because I'm just like wondering if things would have been better if she had took and responsibilities like that and I thought it was kind of the whole point with what is going on with her character in Future and we are supposed to be very critical about that because of how steven is feeling

I still haven't seen anyone make a disagreement about that and I thought his "running away from her problems" rant kind of included that issue with her not confronting the diamonds and that if she did he wouldn't be in the situation he was in in Future and taking her responsibilities. I don't think it was specified but I thought the whole point of that Grant was basically almost everything was her fault and if she did took responsibility things would be different even though some part of me feels naive to think that and would be ignoring key issues involving the relationship between pink and the other Diamond, especially white diamond

Also not bashing Rose or Steven here, I feel like this is something I'm seriously wondering about when it comes to the idea of her confronting diamonds and things would be okay or at least better than how things were in Canon. Given that how critical how almost everyone has been very critical of rose, I feel like I want to hear the reasons of how she could have convinced them and whether or not that was actually possible and I'm sorry for the long ask. This is something that kind of requires a lot of thinking and I just felt interested in the what if scenario and whether or not things would be better in that scenario

To me, I feel like the most important part of confronting White Diamond was that Steven was not Pink. If Steven was Pink, if Rose was there, I don't think the confrontation would have changed anything because the Diamonds wouldn't have cared. If Pink isn't gone they can hold on to the chance that they can have her, that things can go back to how they were. It's only when she's truly gone that the Diamonds have to move on.

Pink/Rose fucked up a lot. She's an incredibly flawed character. But I think it's unfair when people say that all of this could have been avoided had she confronted the Diamonds. To do so ignores the fact that Pink's shattering changed the Diamonds, that the war changed them, that time changed them. The Diamonds Pink fled from and the Diamonds Steven met were not the same.

Rose may have lied about what gem she had, but she didn't trick people into a war of independence. She swore off her title and she worked with rebels because she felt like those people deserved freedom. She wasn't secretly trying to get her throne back, she wasn't trying to claim Earth for herself. She wanted gems and life on Earth to live the way they wanted to, and people joined the cause - not for her.

I really don't know if Rose could have convinced the Diamonds without a war. Maybe after the war she could have confronted them, could have changed something, but I think the war changed everything. I think the war made it a possibility. I think people think too much about Rose "leaving problems behind" and not enough about the things she accomplished.

We all leave the world with unfinished business. Rose did her best. She messed up at times. She made bad choices. But it's not like Rose ran away to go hide on an asteroid and let everyone die. She fought beside them. She tried. And I really can't say for sure whether Steven could have done any better had he been in her shoes.

[staygolddindjarin]

Grief

Chapter two: Rebellion

Din Djarin x Reader x Cassian Andor

Series Summary: Raised on Mandalore, born into a bloodline of warriors, no one ever expected for the daughter of a Clan leader to go rogue. Leaving the life of security and making the journey to fight in the war against the empire meant many things... giving up the way of the Mandalore, and giving up a solid future. A future that involves an arranged marriage to a foundling from another clan.

Chapter warnings: some brief angst, this ones pretty mellow ngl

Words: 3.3k

A/n: i was not expecting such a good response from the first chapter but bruh you guys are amazing- anyway here's part two of my brain's misery

Part 2/?

The trip from Mandalore to the planet of Dantooine was long, and still ongoing. We all took turns, watching to see if we were any closer. After each jump from hyperspace, the transport would stop at a space refueling tank, before slowly going onward toward the destination. We must have been traveling several systems across the galaxy. We had a few laughs, mainly while watching Gander try and steal Shyloh's food from his knapsack while he was sleeping. Most of the other time we all just sat in silence, up until this point.

"What do you think we're all going to do once we get to the rebel base?" Merc raised his voice slightly, barely capturing our attentions as we had all been dozing off, and Shyloh was taking watch at the view point.

"What do you mean?" I had asked, not quite sure of what he was getting at. I sat up straighter against the wall, showing my interest in the newfound conversation.

"What branch do you think you'll end up in?" He was in a daze as he spoke, almost unsure of his intentions of bringing it up. His dark eyes were nearly emotionless under his furrowed brow.

"I hadn't really thought about it. I would say maybe something like mechanics," I said, thinking of the best possible use of my talents. I'm sure there's plenty of mechanical help already assisting the rebels, but with the galactic empire growing it's forces by the day, they needed all the help they could get.

"What about flying?" Shyloh perked up from his seat at the window.

"What about it?" I asked, curious as to why he suddenly thought of the new topic.

"You could do it of you wanted to. Be a pilot, I mean. You have the skills," He told me, but I scoffed. He wasn't in any way shape or form was making an ounce of sense at all.

"Speeder control races are a bit different from piloting fighters against the imperial troops don't you think?" I laughed at the idea, but he rolled his eyes, persistent with his opinion.

"It's less different than you think it is. Also mind you, I never saw you lose a race," He objected, but I wasn't having any of it.

"That's because when I raced, my own credits were on the line," I joked, seeing what he would try and come up with next, only to be met with a cold hard stare, before an answer that would shake me to my core.

"Well, now the freedom of the galaxy is on the line."

My smile dropped from my face and I turned to face the other two, who were looking back at me. They didn't expect that answer either. Shyloh was well known to be a boy of few words, and only really spoke to his friends and family. He was a founding just like the rest of them, but he had been with ths clan longer, due to having been saved from a war infested home as a baby.

He could sometimes be very wise, even if he didn't think he was being so. We weren't sure what it was, but he had this sort of presense that was so powerful. We knew when he would walk in a room, or walk out of it. It's like the air would change. Much like it changed now, with his words rendering us all speechless.

The silence was uncomfortable, and I was the one who left it unresloved, so I spoke up in favor of my crewmates to not keep quiet any longer.

"Perhaps I shall see where I am needed first."

"Perhaps you shouldn't be so afraid to explore an option you would excel in," He again rendered me speechless, and I did not have anything else to say this time. I was young, but my mind was not. I could comprehend thoughts the same way that an adult could. I could handle things just as well and if not better than some, too. He was right. I was simply afraid.

"I think we're finally here," Shyloh said, turning back to look out of the view port again.

"Its about time," Gander stood up, slinging his knapsack over his shoulder and standing at the transport door waiting for it to slide up.

We all followed suit, but Shyloh stopped us and held up a warning finger to stay still.

"There's manding droids, we gotta sneak off carefully. They don't look like bulk but they could be armed," He suggested. We were not yet at the rebel base, meaning these were probably droids of the land, and belonged to whoever oversees the exports on this planet.

When the panel opened, we were all careful to first peek out of the transport. This planet was nothing at all like Mandalore, which was dry and hot. This planet was lush with plants. And the air was slightly humid. It was a very welcome contrast from where I spent most of my life.

We all sneakily bolted out of the transport, ducking down behind one of the cargo units placed outside. We saw an opening in what looked like some sort of forrest patch.

There was a chill in the air on this planet, even in the middle of the day. Mandalore only ever got colder at night, when the sun was down and the moons were shining.

"That was close." Merc mumbled as we began to turn around and head into the grasslands, trying to find the rebel base.

We made sure no one was behind us, and were careful to check if any droids had caught sight of us.

We all went to turn around, but as soon as I did, I collided with someone's chest, rather hard might I add, sending me to the ground on my bottom. I didn't even collide that hard with the person, it was just the shock that sent me backwards.

"Need a hand?" I looked up to see a man, a sly smirk on his face as he held his hand out towards me. I took it without question, heaving myself up from the grassy, and somewhat muddy ground beneath me.

"You must be our contact," Merc smiled, and the man nodded, turning and begining to lead us to a speader that was hovering nearby behind a large set of trees.

"We must be careful not to use names outside of the base. I would be more than happy to formally introduce myself once we reach our final destination," He chuckled. It was only now that I realized he had an accent, a thick one. Probably left over from his native tongue that spilled out his mouth when he spoke galactic basic.

I know that sometimes my accent slips in when i speak. I never had to worry about using Mando'a around my fellow crewmates. They were foundlings, and hadn't been raised to speak it. Shyloh was, but he prefered to use galactic basic anyways because he had forgotten so much of it.

We all boarded the speader, Gander and I sitting on the back, our legs hanging off as we held onto the side bars.

"This might be a bumpy ride for you two," The man said, looking at both of us before giving me a wink. I scrunched my face up, not sure how else to react to it. The man was definitely on the younger side, but I wasn't sure how he could possibly see an interest in me.

Maybe he did and I just didn't want him to. Maybe I was still hinged to the idea that I would go back to Mandalore someday and marry my betrothed. I was so young, and hadn't the slightest idea of what feelings I could possibly be harboring, if any at all.

I couldn't deny I found him appealing. Anyone would, at least any human with eyes that is.

His hair was dark, and so were his eyes. He had a bit of stubble along his jaw and above his lip. He was somewhat scruffy looking, but in a good way.

As the speeder went through the forresty stretch of pathway, I kept turning around to catch a glimpse of him. Each time I did I had to look away fast because Gander would give me weird stares.

I would play it off like I was simply taking in the view of the green planet around me, and he wouldn't seem to notice.

After a while, with quite a few twists and turns, and Gander and I nearly falling off the speeder twice, we arrived to our destination.

We all hopped out of the transport, following the man into a giant cargo port. As soon as I looked to my left I could see an X-wing fighter in all it's glory. I had never seen a real one before, just heard stories and viewed holograms.

"Alright. We have about twelve other recruits arriving on this base today, so you will all be attending orientation this evening. As for right now, you look beat, and should rest. PX-74 will assign you to your bunks," He said, gesturing to the droid before beginning to walk away with a nod, but I stopped him before he could take a step.

"Wait a minute... I believe I recall something about a formal introduction," I crossed my arms over my chest and shifted my weight, trying to give off the look of having as much confidence as I could muster. I was putting on a facade, possibly to make me seem more mature. I didn't know the real reason.

He smirked, raising an eyebrow as he scanned me up and down with his dark eyes.

"Cassian Andor," He smiled, then looking right back at me with questioning eyes. "And how about you... you got a name?"

"Y/n from clan Maldrix," I said, my confidence wavering a little when he looked at me the way that he did.

"She's a Mandalorian," Shyloh perked up, and I sent him a warning glare.

"Yeah, sixth generation," Merc added, his cocky smile pasted on his face for all to see and be annoyed by.

"A mandalorian? I've heard the stories but I haven't ever met one. Are you-?"

"I'm not," I cut him off before this got twisted into one big lie. "My mother and father are."

"Doesn't that make you one too?" Cassian furrowed his brow but his tone was somewhat joking and humorous.

"No, it does not," I wasn't harsh with the way my voice came out, but I was firm. Though I wasn't one of them, the mandalorians and all they stood for were very important to me.

"Mandalorian is not a race, it's a creed. Some of the best Mandalorians I ever had the pleasure of knowing didn't even have a bloodline from Mandalore. They were foundlings, like these three," I explained, laying out the facts so that there was no longer any confusion lingering, but now there was a tension that was thicker than the trees on this planet.

"Even still, she can fight just as good as any soldier taken the creed," Merc jumped in, trying to clear the air, and thankfully, it seemed to be working.

"She flies even better," Shyloh mentioned, and I swore I could kill him. He was just so pushy sometimes, even with his massive sense of wisdom.

"You fly?" This peaked Andor's interest, and immediately he seemed more engaged towards me.

"I'm not as good as they say I am," I admitted, but he shook his head.

"No, really... if you can fly we could really use you. We're putting together a team for an air raid that's set to happen about one month's time from now," He came up closer to me and stared me in the eye.

"I'm just a kid, I might really let you down," I joked, trying not to get too caught up in his eye contact. His eyes were much darker when you could see them closely.

"I tell you what, I can arrange for you to have time in the flight simulator after orientation. If we feel you would be an asset, we can add you to the strike team," He said, nodding along to his words. I understood that they might need backup, and if push came to shove, I could maneuver faster than any pilot back on Mandalore. I never lost a race, nor did I ever lose a bet.

"Okay."

I could tell I was blushing from the extra attention I was receiving. I wasn't so sure what about me was so enticing that I deserved it.

"I have to go now to pick up the other recruits from a drop station. I leave you in the capable hands of PX-74," He said, returning to his speeder and letting us be lead off into the base.

"There are only so many open bunks left. Two of you will share one, and the other two will be placed with bunk mates." The metalized voice of the PX unit was strong in our ears, and we all followed after him as we ventured into the long hallway at the end of the cargo port.

The droid stopped at a door about midway through the hall and opened it using the side panel on the wall, revealing a young man that seemed almost younger than me even.

"One of you will be staying here. Which will it be?" The droid asked, turning towards our small group.

"I'll take this one," Shyloh said, stepping forward into the bunk to meet his new roomate.

The boy looked a bit frightened at first, but because of Shyloh's powerful yet calming energy, he seemed to relax almost immediately.

He turned and smiled back at us, waving before the IG unit closed the door and kept us going.

He walked us down passed several more doors, maybe more than twenty, before he stopped at another one and opened it up.

Inside sat a young woman, her legs crossed as she sharpened a knife with a smirk on her face. She looked up and made eye contact with me first.

"I wondered how long it would be before they got someone else in here." Her voice was somewhat low and raspy, but it was kind of soothing in a way.

"One of you-" the IG unit began again, but I stopped him, stepping into the bunk with the girl inside.

"I'll take this one." I smiled at the two boys left before the door closed on my new bunk.

I moved to set my knapsack down on the bottom bunk, but my roomate stopped me.

"Bottom one's mine." She said, looking up from her sharpened knife again to inform me of the sleeping arrangements.

I instead threw my knapsack on the top bunk, trying to climb up into it, but failing miserably.

"You need a hand?" She chuckled, watching my lame attempts to swing my leg up high enough. The fact that there was no ladder should have tipped me off.

"I'll be okay, thanks," I laughed, keeping my attitude loose and positive, though this bunk bed was already causing unnecessary problems for me.

"If you say so," She chuckled again, seeing as I finally managed to haul myself up and onto the bed.

"First try," I joked, and she laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. I think that we would be getting along, because no one ever laughed at my lame sense of humor.

I laid back, resting my arms behind my head and staring blankly at the ceiling.

"So, where are you from?" She piped up, not taking her eyes away from her previous knife. That thing must mean a lot to her.

"Mandalore," I let out, trying to get comfortable on this lumpy pad that was under my head.

"Actually?" She seemed surprised. Everyone had heard of the planet that the mandalorian tribes had resided upon, and usually they understood what kind of people the place would breed.

"Yeah. Left just in time. Tomorrow's my birthday," I shut my eyes continuing our converastion with one less sense. It didn't matter, though. I was still fully awake.

"What would you have had to do?" She pondered curiously, finally looking up towards the bunk in interest.

"Well, to put it short... tomorrow I would have had to swear my freedom away. No living being would ever be able to see my face again till the day I died," I laid it out plain and simple, and she seemed to understand.

"How old are you?" She asked, her trail of questions getting longer and longer.

"Sixteen tomorrow," I answered, feeling a bit more tired now that my eyes had been closed, and the lights in the bunk rooms were dim.

"You're just a baby," She scoffed. "How could they possibly expect you to make that choice so young?"

"It's just the way it's always been there. This is the way," I remembered. Those words used to be said to me nearly ten times a day, and now they only rung in my mind as a memory.

"That's insane. The people on your planet must be crazy to take an oath like that," She muttered.

"You would think so... the strangest part about it is that there are kids brought back as foundlings that take the creed without hesitation. They don't even belong to a bloodline, they just feel as though they have right to the creed as much as anyone else," I silently remembered Din for a moment. He was the bravest, strongest, most loyal Mandalorian I'd ever known. A foundling.

I began to get bitter at the thought of leaving him. He could have made things better for me if I had just given him a chance. I had to let my head get in the way. I needed to think about something else.

"What about you, huh? Where you from?" I asked, changing the subject as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"Alderaan. Born and raised," She said, getting up from the floor and dropping herself on the bottom bunk.

"You been a lot of places since then?" I asked, but she first let out a heavy sigh before speaking.

"Only too many to count," She said, settling herself on the bunk like I had done.

"Must be nice..." I muttered. Finally able to relax on this pathetic excuse for a bed pad. Of course I couldn't complain. I'm the one who chose the life of the rebellion, including their miserable bedding. "I've never been anywhere outside my home planet until now. I haven't even seen the entirety of my own planet."

"Most new comers are the same. They haven't been anywhere else, then they come here and its like we're moving non stop. Base to base, on just about every planet in this galaxy," She reassured. At least now I didn't feel so out of place.

"How long have you been stationed here?" I asked, unsure of how long I would get to adjust to things.

"A few months. It's likely we'll have to leave soon. There's rumors of the imperials knowing our location," She answered, rolling her eyes, thought I couldn't see from the top bunk.

"You're kidding," I scoffed. After just getting here, I might have to up and leave again. I'll have to learn to accept this new life, it's what I wanted.

"I wish I was, kid," She added.

"I have a name," I retorted back, not a fan of the nickname 'kid'. I waited for her to ask me what it was, but when she stayed silent I sighed. "It's Y/n."

"I'll call you what you are... now get some rest, they'll come pounding on that door in a few hours for orientation," She said, as though she somehow had grown to a habit of mothering me only five minutes after we met. I dropped the conversation and drifted off to sleep, my eyes were too heavy to keep open anymore anyway.

.

.

Tags open

A/n: okay so like i wrote this a while before everything with gina carano happened and i do not in any way condone her whatsoever so let's pretend she's been recast already...

[omegas-spaghettios]

The Batch can 100% rescue Crosshair, y'all just haven't thought about it.

I have seen some posts and comments bemoaning Crosshair fans' frustration with the Batch not rescuing him. "Omega is their priority, they can't do it without putting her at risk, the Empire is too powerful.", all things I have read that supposedly make it so the Batch can't attempt to liberate Crosshair.

All of them are false.

I am going to go into excruciating detail of all of the ways I can think of that the Batch could reasonably do it.

Also, all of these are not just my ideas! I talked with @bimormondisaster pretty lengthily about this, a lot of the ideas are hers, check her out!

Now, the first "reason" why the Batch can't.

1) They can't put Omega at risk

I agree that taking Omega to try and liberate Crosshair is putting her at risk. But guess what? Cut Lawquane exists.

Cut has already shown he would happily take Omega in and raise her in his family. I seriously doubt Rex or the Batch have lost contact with him when he moved, they could contact him and ask him to watch Omega, he almost certainly would. Best case scenario the Batch succeeds and Omega just got a fun few days at Cut's house, they all have a reunion where Crosshair gets to see Omega and Cut again, they can have a nice reunion and celebration party. Worst case? The Batch fail and die, where Omega is safe and in good hands with Cut's family. Since the Batch's chips are removed and there is no evidence in canon to suggest they can be replaced, there is little risk of the Batch being reprogrammed and hunting after Cut.

Omega is also just part of the Batch now, guys. They've said this. The Batch has agreed to let her take any risk they take, and she could be incredibly helpful on a Raid on Kamino if it came to it, she could be a big help in saving Crosshair and I'm sure she would LOVE to help.

2) Kamino/The Empire is Too Powerful

First of all, no they aren't. The Clone Wars has shown us on multiple occasions that Kamino is able to be infiltrated. During the Rookies arc, we see that Ventress made it on planet with Aqua droids. They relied on Debris to build attack ships, but Ventress and the droids got there BEFORE Grievous did. This shows it is possible to get on planet undetected. Then the Conspiracy arc shows that if you are smart, you can navigate Kamino's defenses. Fives and AZ ALONE managed to infiltrate the medical bay, the DNA chambers, and the place where the earliest clones were being grown. They did that on there own! Not to discredit Fives, he is incredibly capable. But so is the Batch. Tech probably already knows that place inside and out, but if he doesn't he can learn very quickly. Omega also likely knows the facility incredibly well. If they don't, they could just convince a Droid like AZ to help or flat out reprogram them. Also, once in the facility, Hunter would certainly be able to track Crosshair. Bonus points, Fives got from the water up into the facility undetected, so between those two TCW arcs there is a clear demonstrated path to get into and around the facility.

Also, the Batch's entire Clone Wars career was designed around impossible missions. They were the ones called in when literally no other clones could cut it, I seriously doubt Kamino is the worst thing they have waded in to.

But even if it was too hard to do that for them (it isn't), they could try other avenues. The Batch could create a staging ground and dare Crosshair to come after them, which is almost certainly would. The Galaxy is so freaking big the writers could come up with countless planets and staging grounds for the Batch to create a good defensible position, but a good idea is a CIS war outpost.

We saw in Rebels that many old outposts and forts from The Clone Wars were abandoned. While I severely doubt that the Republic ones have been abandoned by this point in the timeline, they could have pretty good luck finding a CIS one. Most of the droids were deactivated, so finding a Fort or outpost or armory and seizing it should be easier than storming Kamino. They may have to deal with scrappers or pirates, but they are decidedly less intimidating than Kamino. Take a CIS post, take a few days to learn it, get it running, and modify it for a battle, and they're golden! Those facilities were DESIGNED for war, the hard part is just getting it functioning. They could fix it up, dig in their heels and dare Crosshair to attempt it, which they could capture him during the battle.

3) "They don't have the manpower"

Sure they do, I have already established that Kamino is not impossible to get around, one clone and Droid did it, for Christ's sake. But fine, they don't want to do it with just Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo. Good news! They have allies!

They could ask Rex. Rex at least has Trace and Rafa, undoubtedly more. If they went to Rex and asked for his help in exchange for their help in the future, that can boost their numbers.

Then they have Cid. Now she will charge. But if they spend time doing jobs and saving up, they could pay for Cid's help in acquiring supplies or allies who would be willing to help for hire. Cid also might just be willing to point them in the direction of someone who could help.

Then there is Saw Gerrera. They would have to find him, but I'm SURE he would help. If they went to him and said "hey, we need your help rescuing a brother, in exchange for your help we will give you guided access to Kamino and help you sabotage or damage it while we are there." Saw would almost certainly jump at the chance.

Then, absolute worst case scenario, they could find battle droids. We have already seen in the series where they could find some, they are probably not incredibly hard to get. They might even be on Bracca, too. They could take some time and find droids to reprogram and build themselves a force that way.

Even just ONE of those 4 options could help. If they went for all 4, they legit have the allies to form a small army, that's enough.

4) How to remove Crosshair's Chip

This isn't criticism I have seen but it's more evidence, you can remove his chip easily. Do it on Kamino during the raid, for one. The procedure itself takes only a few minutes. Granted, that is a lot of time in a high stress situation. But even if Crosshair took as long as Wrecker to recover, taking an unconscious Crosshair out of Kamino would be just as easy if not easier to take than an unconscious or tied up Crosshair with an active chip.

I also doubt the empire figured out why the Batch were on Bracca, most likely thought they were just scavenging. They could return to Bracca on another ship and use their facility. But if they don't want to do that, the ship Rex went down on in Season 7 has one. If not that, Tech has worked personally with the equipment on the ship, he could certainly find somewhere in the Galaxy with comparable equipment to do the procedure.

In Conclusion

Please stop saying shit to Crosshair fans about this. The Batch is well within their power to do this, they have the resources available. They can do it now, but they haven't yet. I am aware a lot of these resources were found during the first half of the season. But now they have them and no explicit goal, they can 100% look at all of these ways or even ways I haven't thought of, pick one, and do it.

[dylan-westwick]

Dylan snickered in amusement at his tone of voice, shaking her head. "You're trouble, Theo Bailey." She said before he argued the point that by her choosing not to rebel was rebelling in and of itself. "Always goin' against the grain, huh? What can I say, I'm a woman with a mind of her own." She teased along with him, always fine to make a joke of herself. She nodded in agreement at his words. "Me too. I don't think I would have had the courage to do it for myself. I was lucky for them wantin' to advocate for me. I know not everybody gets that. I think I would have been fine with farm life, but probably would've lived a life of what-if's. Which hell sometimes I still do." Dylan admits with a laugh, feeling comfortable enough to share that with Theo considering he'd literally seen her stupidly cry. Part of her wasn't sure why she found relief in his commentary about how shocking it had been to his system, but maybe it was just because of her line of work made her come into contact who didn't realize the amount of wealth they had. She slowed her horse, Johnny Boy to a stop, sliding off before tying him in the stable quickly so she could grab the stair and Theo's crutch and bring them over to him. Listening all the while as he explained the feeling of still being an outsider, which she certainly could relate to in the art world. But hearing that he was shocked they picked him, she found herself shocked too. "I mean I may be a bit biased here, but Theo you're an amazing person, that's why they wanted you to be part of their family. Because they knew you deserved love and they love you." Sometimes it was hard to believe that he couldn't see how good he was. She hadn't meant to blush while sharing this, Dylan was no longer as shy and giddy in the way she had been months ago, but the friendship still remained and she still wanted him to know that she cared about him. Holding her hand out just in case he needed it to step down, she heard him talk about the potential of what he could do. "Well hey, I'll be here ready to listen, don't you worry." Chuckling a bit as he explained the idea of going into academia a bit too stuffy. "I think your excitement of languages is certainly fun to learn but also just 'cause everything points to a thing doesn't mean it's what your heart wants." She let out a small laugh at his question, shaking her head. "Well ain't that a loaded question. I'm guessin' you mean workwise though or at least that has the easier answer, which is that I am now. For a little while I wasn't though. I've loved art all my life, but for awhile, I was scared I'd lost the joy of it. After my dad passed, it was hard for me. But...thankfully I haven't and I just needed to relearn it." Her eyes shift to the ground for a moment, it was always a tough topic and she couldn't believe it had been over a year now since her father had been gone.

"Yes, definitely not my parents at all." Theo chuckled to himself, horrified at the thought of sleeping with either of them. "That by itself is rebellion, isn't it? In a generation where everyone did rebel. Very disruptive of you, Miss Westwick. Avant-garde, really." Theo joked as they approached the barn with the horses. "I'm glad they recognized your full potential. Not that there's anything wrong with farm life---I'm just glad they didn't let you settle and disappear." Theo smiled at his friend, looking ahead. "Oh, most definitely. It's... from watching other kids play in the courtyard from the window and having to share a chicken leg with a kid called Dimitrios, to... Bailey-dom. Even a normal family would've been life-changing, I suppose. But this?" He shook his head in disbelief. "To be honest, I think I'm still overwhelmed. How could they have picked me? It's unbelievable." He voiced one of his deepest secrets. An irrational concern. He'd never known the middle-ground, where normal people stood; he'd known the orphanage, and then the Bailey estate. The trips and the glamour and the unconditional love. The extremes. He smiled fondly at her as they entered the barn. "Thank you. But that's a great question, Dyl. I'll get back to you once I do have the answer." Theo considered it for a few moments. "I don't hate it like a man hates a soulless deskjob. I just feel like there should be more to it." He'd picked the thing he could do with his eyes closed. The thing that didn't challenge him in the least. "Everything says I should become a boring professor. My parents aren't boring professors, nor is my sister, but I'm not quite them." He grimaced. "Enough about me. Are you satisfied?"

[luciferfemme]

Hello, i am very curious about your religious beliefs and if you do not mind, could you tell me the basics of it? I’m very sorry to bother, i would search it on the internet but many are rude and prejudiced towards your religion :((( so i wanna get the true facts. Do you have a place of worship? Do you pray? Are there are sort of rituals you preform or things you can’t do (like how people who practice Judaism can’t eat certain foods) ?? ❤️❤️ pls ignore if this is too personal

Hiii thank you so much for asking! I actually love talking about it so not to worry. So I feel like Luciferian worship is (at least for me) not unlike other Pagan religions in the sense that it's very like find what works for you and everything else don't worry about it? Like I have an altar in my room dedicated to Lucifer. I have items specifically to represent him (and like I have discovered this through some decent websites about like the Left Hand Path and Luciferian worship). For instance, I have roses, I have this beautiful skull with a gold snake wrapped around it. I have of course a statue of Baphomet which is often a representation of Luciferian/Satanic worship. I pray to him (I try to make it nightly but sometimes I don't always remember but I always communicate with him in some form). Typically I like to have a candle and incense going when I'm at my altar. Scents I understand he enjoys are like cinnamon, rose, and frankincense. And I just kind of pray to him. I have a few prayers specifically--but I also just kind of talk about my day and thank him (a lot oh my Lucifer the way he has made my life better).

Sometimes communing with him is like closing my eyes and just imagining him before me and talking that way. I actually picture him as a butch so that adds to it. Honestly the crux of Luciferian worship and Satanic worship in general is like being your own god worshiping yourself but there's different ways to go about it. There's what's called Theistic Luciferian worship which is what I practice where you view him as a god and then there's like nontheistic I'm not sure if that's the right word where you don't view him as a god or pray to him specifically but just kind of worship what he represents which is like embracing your own power and honestly I think we all need that from time to time.

There's not really anything I can't do, but there are things that I know he would be disappointed in like not being true to myself and how I feel.

A lot of people wrongly assume that Lucifer is the bad guy but I think if there's anything I've learned is that he's the bad guy in someone else's book. He didn't get to make up the story that people decided about him. He just said hey I don't want to be told I have to follow someone else's rules. Like he rebelled against something he didn't believe in and said I can be my own god.

That's just kind of my own way of looking at it all. I grew up Catholic so I had a lot of unpacking of like 'FEAR" and once I realized that like actually Lucifer isn't just an evil force it changed everything for me. I really feel like he's blessed me in so many ways.

Also as an aside one of the more unfortunate aspects about Satanism in general is there are a lot of shitty people who try to use it for shitty things. (Church of Satan for example and JoyofSatan just to name a few). It's shameful and I feel like neither Lucifer nor Satan are on their side (yes they are different-- but one does have to be careful because there are like sources that are shitty. Anton Levay was one of them--I could go into like a whole diatribe about these aspects or how some Satanists have tried to coopt Lilith despite many Jewish Satanists explicitly saying that she is not something that anyone who is not Jewish should be interacting with. There's a blog on here I really like I haven't seen in a while called Salt and Sulphur I believe. Really good information.

[rebelwrites]

Trying Not To Love You

Clay Spenser x Reader

A/N: This is Part Two To “Can’t Give Her What She Wants” But Could Be Read As A Stand Alone Fic. I Just Couldn’t Leave It How I Did 😂 Rebel Isn’t Good With Angst Without A Happy Ending.

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Clay Spenser Masterlist

This Months Writing

You call to me, and I fall at your feet. How could anyone ask for more? And our time apart, like knives in my heart. How could anyone ask for more? But if there's a pill to help me forget, God knows I haven't found it yet. But I'm dying to, God I'm trying to.

The moment Jase saw the cheap bottle of whiskey on the coffee table alongside one of Clay’s dog tags laying next to it, he knew what type of night you had. It had only been a month since you and Clay went your separate ways and everyone could see how much it was hurting both of you. He also knew that after your party for one you would definitely need some strong coffee.

“Hey sleepy” Jase said, nudging you as he put a fresh coffee on the table.

“Urgh” you groaned pulling the duvet over your head.

“I see you enjoyed a party on your own last night kiddo” he said pulling the duvet off you.

“Enjoyed wouldn’t be the word I would use” you sighed running your hand over your face before reaching for the coffee and grabbing Clay’s dog tags running you finger over the engraving. “Unless you class knocking back shit whiskey and crying as a good night, then yeah it was a good night”

“It will get easier” Jase said sitting next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulder “I mean you’ve been camping on my sofa for the last month now, and that tells me you aren’t ready to give up on hope yet”

“Or I just don’t want to be alone so at least I have Emma and Mikey around when you aren’t” you sighed. “I just want this constant ache in my chest to go away, nothing helps me forget Jase and right now I want to forget”

“Well can I suggest taking a shower” he laughed trying to lighten the mood. “Because you smell like a brewery”

“I’m gonna go for a run” you said, sipping your coffee before slipping the dog tags around your neck, tucking them into the hoodie that belonged to Clay. No matter how much you tried to get rid of the hoodie and dog tags you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. “I need to try and clear my head”

“The boys are coming over soon, so if you aren’t ready to see him yet I’d go soon” Jase sighed squeezing your shoulder he hated how much this was affecting the both of you.

'Cause trying not to love you, only goes so far. Trying not to need you, is tearing me apart. Can't see the silver lining, from down here on the floor. And I just keep on trying, but I don't know what for. 'Cause trying not to love you. Only makes me love you more.

The moment Clay walked into Jase’s house his senses were attacked by the smell of the body spray you always used, he knew you were staying here even if you weren't speaking to him, the sight of your trainers on the shoe rack, made his heart hurt. They were only simple things but everything that related to you made that cut just that bit deeper.

No matter how much he tried not to love you it only made him love you more, Sonny was right you were his other half and life without you was hell.

The moment he walked into the living room, he saw Jase folding up the duvet, placing it in the corner of the room along with the pillows and the teddy bear that you only slept with when you slept alone. He also spotted one of his hoodies thrown over the back of the sofa.

“Is she here?” Clay asked.

“She’s gonna for a run” Jase sighed “she needed to clear her head and shift the hangover she has from nailing a bottle of cheap whiskey”

“How is she doing?” Clay asked as he picked up the empty bottle.

“She’s hurting, just like you are” Jase said with a sad smile.

“I just don’t know what to do” Clay sighed as he sat on the sofa resting his elbows on his knees, holding his head in his hands. “Where do I go from here? I’m trying not to love her but it’s only making me love her more”

“You just got to give it time man” Sonny said squeezing Clay’s shoulder. “It’s only been a month”

“I’m just lost without her”

And this kind of pain, only time takes away. That's why it's harder to let you go. And nothing I can do, without thinking of you. That's why it's harder to let you go. But if there's a pill to help me forget, God knows I haven't found it yet. But I'm dying to, God I'm trying to.

No matter where he went or what he did, he was tormented with memories of you, everything he did always came back to you making things harder. No matter how much he tried to forget he couldn’t. Everyone was right, you were his other half, the person that made everything better.

So he found himself knocking back the shots, distancing himself from his brothers, trying to do anything he could to forget the pain he was feeling. But nothing was working, he couldn’t bring himself to change his lockscreen. Pulling his phone out he stared at the picture of the two of you that was taken around a year ago, he was pressing you against the wall and you were both looking into each other’s eyes with smiles that shine brightly.

He knew he shouldn’t but he found himself writing a text out to you but deleted it before he even sent it.

It's trying not to love you, only goes so far. Trying not to need you, is tearing me apart. Can't see the silver lining, from down here on the floor. And I just keep on trying, but I don't know what for. 'Cause trying not to love you. Only makes me love you more.

“I’ve never seen either of them this low before” Ray said leaning against the counter of Jason’s kitchen.

“I don’t think any of us have” Sonny sighed. Their voices were hushed as you were only on the sofa in the next room. “They are both putting away a serious amount of alcohol to try and numb the pain”

“You do know you aren’t as quiet as you think” you said walking into the kitchen, all their eyes landed on Clay’s hoodie you were still wearing. It no longer smelt of him but you couldn’t part with it, it was like your comfort blanket. “Jase you are in my way”

“I’m not moving,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m cutting you off the spirits”

“Fine I will just go to the pub then” you huffed storming out of the kitchen.

You knew drinking wasn’t the answer but for a short period of time it numbed the pain, but it never lasted too long.

“We should go with her” Ray sighed. “With how she is feeling she’s gonna start a fight just to feel something other than the heartache she’s feeling”

“I know someone else who is exactly the same” Sonny sighed “but maybe this will work, they haven’t been in the same room as each other for the last two months and I know full well Clay is at the pub”

“You think that maybe if they see one another they might come to their senses?” Jase asked.

“Exactly that”

The moment you walked into the bar you ordered a couple of drinks, tucking yourself into the corner where no one would see you. But from across the room you spotted one person whose mood reflected yours. Maybe coming here was a bad idea, you knew he would be here but was this your heart's way of saying that you needed him.

Leaning back into the chair you watched from across the room having an internal battle on whether you should just go over to him or not.

So I sit here divided, just talking to myself. Was it something that I did? Was there somebody else? When a voice from behind me, that was fighting back tears. Sat right down beside me, and whispered right in my ear. Tonight I'm dying to tell you. That trying not to love you, only went so far. Trying not to need you, was tearing me apart.

“Hey little buddy” Sonny said, sitting beside Clay. “You know it’s bad luck to drink alone right”

“Maybe I want to be alone” Clay sighed.

“Just reach out to her man” Jase said, pulling the beer bottle to his lips. “We all know that you and Y/N are just being stubborn, trust me she is no fun to live with at the moment”

“Yeah well we both decided to go separate ways” Clay snapped.

“Oh come on man you and everyone else knows that you two are meant to be together” Sonny said, glancing across the room to see Ray chatting to you, he didn’t know what was being said but he saw the tears in your eyes as you nodded, standing to your feet and started walking across the room. “But if you want to sit here feeling sorry for yourself then who are we to stop you” nodding at Jase they both stood up leaving him alone but knew he wouldn’t be alone for long.

“Clay” you sniffed fighting back tears as you sat opposite him. You waited until he looked up, his mood matching yours. “I can’t do this anymore”

“Do what?” He whispered looking into your tear filled eyes.

“Be apart from you any longer” you said fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie you were still wearing. “I’ve tried everything in me not to love you anymore but it only got me so far and if I’m being honest it only made me love you more and the more I tried not to need you just tore me apart”

You didn’t expect him to reach across the table, squeezing your hand, the contact making your heart feel a little lighter.

Now I see the silver lining of what we're fighting for. And if we just keep on trying, we could be much more.

“I think we made a mistake “ he whispered, brushing his thumb over your hand, sending sparks through your body. “The last two months just made me realise I don’t want anything other than you, I don’t want this life if you aren’t by my side”

“What we had was so special even if the last couple of months wasn’t the best” you whispered “we didn’t go about it like adults would, we let the communication break down. But I can’t do this without you, and I don’t want to do it without you” reaching out you placed your hand on his cheek as a smile appeared on Clay’s face.

“We gave up fighting for love but I see it now, maybe we can try again” he whispered, his blue eyes glistening with hope as well as tears.

“I’m willing if you are baby” you whispered, brushing your thumb over his cheek as his smile grew.

“Maybe Sonny was right all this time, soulmates always find a way back together” he whispered before leaning across the table placing a gentle kiss against your lips. “It’s a nice night tonight. What do you say we go for a walk?”

“Just like our first date” you said laughing for the first time in months, standing up you held your hand out in front of him, he wasted no time standing up linking his fingers between yours as you left the pub without saying bye to the guys.

You always believed that having a soul mate was a bunch of bullshit, until this moment. You both knew that you wouldn’t go back to how you were a year ago and it would take time and a lot of communication but it was a road you were both willing to travel, no matter how long it took.

'Cause trying not to love you. Oh, yeah, trying not to love you. Only makes me love you more.

@chibsytelford @mrsmarvelous1995 @supervalcsi @everyhowlmarksthedead @talicat713 @disasterfandoms @bravo-four-seal-team @jasonbabymama @jayhalsteadfan-2417 @lotsoflovefromlea @seik-o @ohitsnicolexo @phoenixhalliwell

[rpg-elf-girl]

Shadows House

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this particular show, both good & bad.

Allow me to give a quick summary for anyone who hasn't seen/read it!

Shadows House is about 'a faceless family of nobles who all live within this giant manor, the Shadows House.

When a Shadow comes of age they receive a 'Living Doll' to both serve as their face and to clean the soot they emit from their bodies.

The most important rule of the living dolls is "don't fret over trivial matters"

A task which is difficult for the ever curious doll Emiliko.

Watch this tale unfold as Emiliko & her mistress Kate navigate this ever mysterious Manor together.'

For a fan of slow burn thrillers, horror, slice of life, supernatural & mystery series' this has been an absolute blast!

It's not quite the combination of genres you'd expect from a show, but it works really well here!

In fact I was so into the anime that this is actually the first show where I broke down and read the manga!

Unfortunately there's no official English release, but at least there are some people translating the series!

As much as I'd like to go on about the manga, this post is meant to be more so about the anime so I'll (try to) leave it at that.

Though i feel obligated to warn anime onlys I'll likely refer the manga a lot in a spoiler section latter in this post I'll try to be vague but I can't guarantee anything. For anyone worried about that I'll lable it do you can read on until then.

Everything from the animation to the music was amazing & completely fit the mood of the story! I remember a couple scenes where I actually teared up because of this!

The Ending theme is an absolute banger! I've listened to that on repeat ever since I first heard it! And the Opening is also great! It's cool for it to be an instrumental, stuff like that is pretty rare! I also heard the song in the op as a motif in the music throughout the show! It really sets the right mood in each scene it's in! It's amazing for getting into each episode!

In terms of adaptation almost everything from the beginning to the end of the Debut arc was done amazingly well!

Even with the stuff they cut it still holds true to the spirit of its source.

The main important part that was cut is something that could easily be introduced latter if they decide to go for a second season, so I'm not too mad about that.

However! Everything after the debut is a bit of a different story.

There was a lot I liked about the last couple episodes but there were some parts that were immersion breaking for me.

I've been being vague up until this point l, but I'm planning on going into spoiler territory for both the anime and manga after this. So I'll make a quick spoiler free summary of my thoughts before moving onto that.

I really really loved this show but in my opinion the last 3 episodes were the weakest of them all. They went anime only for the ending. I don't mind that on it's own, but it was rushed and the writing was sloppy at times.

Now I'm not telling you to not watch the show! Most of It's really really good, and I can still see people enjoying the parts I'm talking about if they want to give the anime a try. Overall I've fallen in love with this series and I could never recommend it enough.

If what I'm saying is giving you bad vibes the manga is available and doesn't have the issues I've mentioned. You can look for a translation online, it didn't take me long to find one so don't worry too much about that.

Also! if you're an anime only who's finished the series and want to know where to pick up the Manga I'd recommend at least skiming through the beginning. I know it might not be what you're looking for but there were a bunch of small scenes that either got cut or were merged for adaptation purposes that I think are super cute & give more context to different aspects of the setting. However! Pay close attention during the "night watchers part" something important got cut .

~~~Now for spoilers!!!!~~~

I don't want to make it sound like I'm some manga purist who hates the very thought of the slightest change from the source. I'm anime only for a lot of different shows and I've always despised it when that type of manga reader reared it's ugly head.

While I'll admit some changes did bother me I won't make a fuss about the smaller stuff.

With that said!

I hinted earlier in this post that I didn't have a big problem with Robe-same being cut. That was because without them there it does make for a more complete story if they only get one season to work with.

If there is another season they can easily be introduced latter on. Like maybe Emiliko & Shaun can meet them when the Debutant class reunion is going on before they talk on the roof (or right after that) I actually think that would be the perfect time to introduce them (other than the time they were supposed to appear, but I digress)

Louise teaming up & being friendly with Kate can be explained with some dialogue changes at the first Debutant Class Reunion. Louise can say she was just trying to show off or that she just wanted to get back at Edward and that she isn't interested in helping Kate with her problems. Things can then go on as they did in the manga.

Kates being reckless & telling everything to John can be explained by her being extremely panicked when Emiliko went missing, as long as there are some lines of dialogue adressing this it's fine. Though I do wish she tried to keep some stuff a secret but couldn't because Shaun tries to interfer because he's still brainwashed, or something along those lines. It felt a bit weird after she just told Emiliko to keep that stuff between them. Still that could be explained by how panicked she was.

There are other things, but I don't want to drag the post on too long. Most of the issues can be fixed with little changes here & there.

I never had a problem with the idea of them going in an anime only direction. I just want to have a good time with the show.

Unfortunately I can't 100% vouche for the direction the show went in. There were elements that I can't excuse, even viewing it as it's own entity instead of an adaptation.

My main complaint with it is how they handled the brainwashing of Ricky & Lou. They didn't say a word when the Debutants were talking badly about Edward & even went along with a plan to go against him. It makes absolutely no sense!

Shaun freaked out when John only suggested that he didn't have to be loyal to the house. These guys were flat out rebelling against an adult! It felt like Ricky & Lou didn't have a purpose & were just there to be there.

The whole point of the coffee is to influence shadows against doing stuff like this. It makes the coffee seem pointless and the adults seem dumb for relying on it to control the kids.

I haven't even brought up the fact that both of their brainwashings were broken by something as simple as a few kind words. It straight up contradicts the rules established by both the Anime and Manga.

This becomes very apparent when you consider all the trouble John & Kate went through to free Shaun & Emiliko.

This was my biggest complaint, but I have some other issues as well.

The next big one is how they handled Edward.

1. Why on earth would he even consider kidnapping Emiliko when he had complete control of the childrens wing? Before this point he was depicted as being a lot more crafty than this. He could easily have Kate monitored or something.

2. Why didn't he use his powers to stop them like what he did to Maryrose & Rosemary when they fought back being taken to the adults wing? He's already shown off his power at this point, why not?

3. Why did he reveal his soot powers at all!? Especially while using his face in front of the kids! The whole unification thing is one of the biggest secrets of the house for good reason! There's no way he wouldn't get in huge trouble for exposing it to children!

Here are some other related questions.

Why didn't Kate, Emiliko, & John react to Edward using soot powers? They shouldn't know about unification yet so why didn't they act shocked, or say anything about it?

Is Edward being banished even an option in the Shadows House? Wouldn't the third floor lords just dispose of him rather than risk letting him leave?

How did John even get a veiled dolls outfit? Louise had to use her powers to get Kate one & she left a long time ago.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I think you get my point.

Please don't take this as me saying that I hate the show because of these episodes. Even if I consider them the weakest of the series I still found a lot of parts to be very enjoyable!

Like I thought it was adorable When Edward was attempting to interrogate Emiliko & she kept being her sunshine self pretending to eat & falling asleep.

Barbara getting to tell off Edward for breaking the rules was great!

I loved seeing Shaun hatch the plan to get Kate into the adults wing to save Emiliko.

Seeing John (attempt to) sneak around the adults wing had me rolling!

The ending scene of Shaun, Ricky, & Lou singing gave me the chills.

(Though I wonder how they'd handle Shaun & Emiliko being brainwashed again since they already used the scenes where they're freed)

Kate & Emilico being propelled by John back to the children's wing was absolutely amazing! I found Shaun & Ricky running over to catch them to be super sweet! (Not to mention the way that scene was animated was absolutely gorgeous!)

Getting hints to what was supposed to come after the debut was nice, at least the groundwork is there in case this gets a season 2!

To (try to) wrap this all up while there were a lot of things I loved and disliked about this show I still had a really fun time watching it!

I kinda hope there's a season two just to see if they can tidy up the mess that the last few episodes created.

Regardless of whether that happens or not I came out of this with a series I absolutely adore.

Heck I could make a whole other post about the manga. (Hopefully one that's less ranty)

Anyway! I won't take any more of your time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! And I hope to see you in my next post!

(Sorry if this one was a bit of a mess!)

[idjitlili]

Your eyes can be so cruel.

Kili x reader

Summary:  Being apart of the company, and growing close to Kili. After stopping at an inn, some drunk men, decide to pick at Kili's appearance. Words from Bowie come into favour.

A/n: Requested by Thatfoolishhuman  I have seen this idea a lot for Kili, but I'lol make it my own :) Also I'm British, so don't be mad at my spelling. FIRST IMAGINE OF 2021

Word count:3375

Warnings: Listened to David Bowie while writing this, sorry Bowie you just too handsome. Swearing.

Songs in order: rebel rebel, as the world falls down.

There was perks from travelling with your parents; due to business. The most frequent place you'd go was Tortuga, it was a quite a large village. Every time that you'd go, you and your parents stayed in an inn, which had a pub connected to it.

You'd eat with your parents in there, before all the drunks arrived, it was also a Saturday that you'd go. Saturdays meant that a song writer, and singer in one , was always there. His name being Jareth, he was a very beautiful man, in honesty one of the best musicians, in history.

Jareth was a skinny man, had a huge blond mullet, beautiful eyes one pupil larger than the other, beautiful accent, beautiful everything. Who couldn't have a crush on Jareth, his songs were like none other. 

These trips started when you were 5, when your parents business finally picked up, all the way up until you came to age. Which is when you joined the company, due to Gandalf.

You didn't think you'd ever see Jareth again, but you do.  You had undoubtedly had a crush on the singer growing up, you had almost forgotten about him when you joined the company.

Personally you didn't know Gandalf very well, not like your parents did, but he recruited you for an adventure, how could you deny it. A chance to see elves, dwarves, dragons? No way you was going to pass up that chance, no way.

You were surprised when the company had picked up, after getting Bilbo, since you lived on the way. Scary yes, not knowing any of these people, a chance at getting friends, you could only hope.

Strange was to say the least, you had seen a couple of dwarves growing up , that was just in pubs mostly. The were always not so pleasant, but these dwarves, plump and strikingly handsome. That hobbit? Bilbo that didn't take long for you to become friends, being shy didn't help, but some how you managed.

Dwarves were were quite scary; to say the least they intimidated you. 

That was until a particularly rainy day, when the mud was like cake batter. Thorin had decided it was time to stop for the night, the rain hammering down, lightning even, every now and then. 

Everyone was getting off their pony's, as were you, you was about to step down, when a huge crack of thunder was sounded above you. Damn you Thor. You had jumped, slipping on the mud, but you never hit the floor, instead you into strong arms.

Looking up , drips of water from dark hair had dripped on you, as Kili looked down at you. Your feet upwards, like a trust fall, you had smiled in embarrassment back to Kili, who had pulled you up to your feet. "T-thank you." Now standing up on your own, pulling your tunic down, trying to avoid eye contact.

"You're welcome, wouldn't want you to ruin your clothes a day into our journey." Kili had smiled at you, as you looked back to him from your feet, smiling slightly back.

Dwarves weren't as bad as they were made out to be, you learned that very quickly. When it was time for baths, turns out they were protective over females, always when you bathed two dwarves stood guard, just in case.

On cold nights, you'd wake up with an extra blanket.

Even though Thorin didn't like you were on this quest, he was never horrible, maybe because you just stayed quiet. You did not want to anger that beast, Bilbo talked quite a lot and look at him..

On one night, you were told to hide, Bilbo had been kidnapped by trolls, you hadn't listened. You followed everyone else, staying the bushes, getting as close as you possibly could, before quietly climbing up a tree with your knife.

It wasn't long before they were all caught, you just staring down at them, specifically Kili, you had hoped at he look up, and see you drop the knife. You could not make nose that would have alerted the trolls immediately. Sat on a branch , trying to blend in as much as possible.

That was Kili had looked up wide eyed, as you dropping the knife , and quickly climbed further up the tree to get out of eye view. You had thought it had worked, oh you was wrong.

"That one has gotten out!" Kili had started running around the trolls , as if he was sonic. A few minutes that lasted before you had noticed a shadow. But it didn't matter because Bert had grabbed Kili tightly,like he was slime that wouldn't stay put. No way would not have bruises after that. Of course he got out of Berts grip as Gandalf had appeared, cracking the large Boulder, turning the trolls into stone.

Feeling terrible the next day still, when the company had stopped again for the night and everyone had went to sleep. You could not, Kili being on watch, you had gotten up quietly, making your way over to him, sitting on log next to him.

Thinking about what you would say, Kili had beaten you to it. "Can't sleep?" His voice sounded tired, but still as lively. "Yeah.. um I'm sorry." Very convincing, indeed.

" for what?" The fire glowing orange, causing Kili to be barely visible as he turned to his to look at you. "It's my fault, that you got hurt yesterday, I should've listened to Thorin."

"What on earth are you going on about? I wasn't hurt? I'm fine, no one is dead , you did great, you didn't throw the knife at my head, maybe then I'd be distrusting in you." You felt like sighing, thankfully, but that would be cringy.

"I haven't got good aim, so it could've happened."

"You need someone to teach you."  You had scoffed slightly at Kili, gaining his full attention.

"I do not think anyone would have the patience." The warm orange glow from the fire, lit up the outline of Kili's face, a small grin could be seen.

"Are you challenging me? I have to sit through multiple speeches from Thorin a day."

"That's because you and Fili mess with him, I saw you the other day tangle a bunch of branches into his hair ,while he was sleeping. Why are you always surprised that he gets mad?"

"That was funny though, did you not see that bird fly at him? It shat on his face." Kili's grin only widened, as did yours, you had seen, Thorins face was bright red with the whipped cream.

"I'm surprised Thorin doesn't just leave you somewhere." 

"My mum would kill him. Right that settles it, you will learn from the best , to throw knives."

"You will really get Fili to help me?" Kili had gasped at you , sarcastically. "Oh I see, you want that Lion, over me, I'm hurt y/n."

"No,no, thank you Kili."

Thus, a bond was formed every night the company stopped, Kili would take you from camp, taught you basic defensive techniques and knife throwing.

To say the least, it did not take you long to develop a crush. Fili and Bilbo had became suspicious and decided to sneak up on you two. Why you'd do , not sure, Bilbo supposed to be smart, for all they knew you could've been going at it.

Instead they found you both sparring, undoubtedly they were confused, as you knocked the sword from Kili's hand ,before tackling him. Straddling him, as you looked up to see Bilbo and Fili. Quickly letting go of Kili's wrists, Kili looking up confused too, as you stood up, pulling him up with you.

"Oh, hi, we were just sparring." Too embarrassed to speak, Kili did soon as he noticed his brother and hobbit.  "So, this is what you two have been doing for weeks? 'Sparring'?" Fili didn't believe it, if Thorin knew he would not have, an heir to the throne, left unsupervised with a woman? No way.

"Yes Fili, I've been teaching Y/n how to defend herself." Sweat dripping down both of your faces,  "Right okay, Thorin said it's time for you to have a bath in the quarry, before the dwarves filthy it. Come on y/n." Bilbo had pulled you away, turning your head back to Kili you had sent a smile back to him.

You were back on the road soon enough, Thorin had decided to let the company stop for a night at an inn, an inn with a pub on the side.

Tortuga, the inn you had grew up at.

What day was it? Saturday, you could only hope, you had a huge grin on your face. You had grabbed your stuff,  once everyone was off their pony's, heading in to the inn,

Getting to the desk, to check into the inn, which consequently next to the bar, you in front.  "Aye, it's y/n/n! It's been a while, luv. And you've brought friends, do you all need rooms?"  Sparrow, the owner of the inn had greeted you,with a grin. That man was also very handsome, but too old for you though.

"I know, mum and dad been here a lot though, I assume? Oh I'm, when they next come here, would you be able to give this. And yes please we need for 16." Handing Sparrow the letter from your pocket.

"Of course, okay right it's 2 coins each for the night." The dwarves soon pulled out there coins passing them forward, as did you.

As Sparrow got the keys after counting the coins, he had turned back to you. "Oh, and lucky for you, y/n/n Jareth is here tonight." Sparrow had grinned, as your face flushed.

"Oh,really?" Kili unknowingly to you had also developed a crush on you, the mention of Jareth, made him bubble with jealousy. The company wondered, why such a young woman would be on nickname terms with the pub owner, and who Jareth was. They hadn't seen you as that type of girl, they were right not you, you weren't an alcoholic.

You had all went to your rooms, you had bathed deeply ,  dressed and headed down to the pub for dinner. The company already there, sat at tables, with jugs of ale. There was a space next to Kili, who had waved you over to sit.

Squeezing next to Kili, Sparrow had catcalled you again. "Oi, y/n/n , usual?"  Nodded to his question, Loki the cook had brought out your favourite dinner, as Sparrow brought you an ale.

"You had it ready? Thank you." Sparrow had just winked leaving you to eat your dinner, the others were too busy drinking , but when they had noticed your food, they quickly ordered food.  

"So, you come here regularly?" Kili had questioned as you finished your food, "oh, I'm yes, I travelled with my parents growing up , we had to drop stuff off here in Tortuga often , so we would stay here for the night." You had spoken quickly , wanting to change the subject.

" Transporting goods then?" Kili was intrigued, watching you intensely as you sipped your ale. Really he wanted to know who Jareth was. "Yeah, pretty boring, got to see a lot of places though." After that, a lot of people began to pile in, and the dwarves got drunker.

You knew it was going to be soon, that Jareth would be here. Not long at all, customers getting drunk, it was lively indeed.

Though nothing ever happened between you and Jareth, he still held a place in your heart, as well as being your best friend.

That's when you heard it.

"Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo"  you head had shot up,in search of him, but you couldn't see him.

"You've got your mother in a whirl

She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl

Hey babe, your hair's alright

Hey babe, let's go out tonight

You like me, and I like it all

We like dancing and we look divine

You love bands when they're playing hard

You want more and you want it fast

They put you down, they say I'm wrong

You tacky thing, you put them on."  Then you saw him, on the stage , well sort of a stage. 

Catching sight of his mullet, down to his eyes, he had not noticed you, you wondered if Sparrow had told him you were here.  You hoped he would see you.

"Rebel rebel, you've torn your dress

Rebel rebel, your face is a mess

Rebel rebel, how could they know?

Hot tramp, I love you so!" Thats when Jareth finally caught your eyes, holding eye contact as he sang, Blush upon your face. You had gotten up and went to the bar, ordering something strong, before retiring to your seat.

As Jareth had already started another song, you smacked down your drink.

"There's such a sad love

Deep in your eyes a kind of pale jewel

Open and closed

Within your eyes

I'll place the sky

Within your eyes."  Jareth , catching your eye, gesturing you to come closer , with his hand.

"There's such a fooled heart

Beatin' so fast

In search of new dreams

A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon

Within your heart"

Standing up , Kili watched you as you walked towards the stranger man, as did the other dwarves. 

"As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down."

  Jareth had held knelt down, holding his gloved hand for you to take, which you did. Pulling you up onto the stage.  Still holding onto your hand, still singing, as he continued singing, you placed your hand on his shoulder as he placed his other hand on your waist.Kili's heart ached.

"Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling in love."  As you two danced , in sync, you truly loved Jareth, Kili stood up , went to the bar to get another drink.

"I'll paint you mornings of gold

I'll spin you Valentine evenings though we're strangers 'til now

We're choosing the path

Between the stars

I'll leave my love

Between the stars."  Jareth had taught you how to dance, and every time you visited , he'd give you another song he had written for your book.  A book which held all his songs.

"As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

Makes no sense at all

Makes no sense to fall

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

Falling in love

Falling in love

Falling in love

Falling in love."  As soon as the song was over, you both had gotten of stage and you had jumped into Jareths arms. 

"Missed you."

"Ditto,"

Jareth had looked over to your table, "so you are travelling with dwarves now?" You had smiled , looking back your table, Kili wasn't there.  "Yes, Jareth, I'm going on an adventure, we have already seen trolls."

Grinning down at you, realisation hit Jareth, and went rushed to his bag quickly before returning back to you with a sheet of paper.

'Magic dance.'

"Just in case you meet a Goblin king. So who is your beloved?" Taking the piece of paper,  looking at into Jareths blue eyes in confusion. "W-what?"

"The dwarf that stormed out, he does not like me."  Jareth had chuckled, as you folded the piece of paper up placing it away.  "We aren't together."

"Maybe you should go check on him, y/n/n, come see me later, I'm staying here tonight." You had briefly hugged Jareth before leaving the pub. 

That's when you heard it, "stupid fucking hairless, fuck."   Local drunks harassing Kili. "Oi, what are you doing?"  The men had turned briefly to look at you, before scoffing. "Fuck of tramp."

You had marched up to the greasy man, pulling by the shoulder, to face you , and kneeing him in the crotch, making the man double over. Kili had punched one of them.  The men soon ran, when you had tackled one of them, beating them into mash, when Kili had pulled you off,the ground, trying to get out of his grip. All the men ran.

"It's me, y/n, stop, if you continued you would have been arrested." Placing , you back onto the floor, Kili had soon walked off, heading to his room, you following. But he had closed the door before you could get in.

This, you climbed up the roof hanging over the roof, to look into Kili's room. Looking like Spiderman. Kili sat on his bed staring at the wall, not moving, jumping when you knocked the window.

He had rushed to the window when he had seen you , hanging of the roof, you definitely couldn't hold on longer. Though Kili wasn't tear stained , it was clear that he was upset.  He had opened the window, helping you in.

"What are you doing? On the roof, what if you fell." He as definitely annoyed, "I would not have, plus I wouldn't have to if you let me in before." You definitely would have fell.

He hadn't answered this time, just sat on the bed, away from you, you sat next to him on the bed. 

"Kili, talk to me, tell me what has made you not yourself. Please, Kili." You didn't dare touch him, but you did placing your hand on his foreman. "Why don't you go to your beloved? You won't be seeming him for a while , instead of bothering me." You had scoffed pulling your hand off of him, you already knew he ran off because of Jareth.

"You are very stupid dwarf, in all honesty, Jareth is my bestfriend, only friend I had growing up, and don't you think he is a bit old for me?" 

"I don't believe it, you like a man that has long soft hair, nothing like me, I can't even grow a beard."

"frankly beards are really gross, tell me that the dwarves don't smell? You know why? Because they drop food all their beards and don't know it."  You had laughed, imagine Bombur going through his beard and finding cheese.

"They do smell,"

"Exactly, and what's wrong with your hair, Kili?" You had turned on the bed, bringing your hand up  to his hair,touching it gently, moving it out for his face. "I think you've got lovely hair, those guys were just idiots, Jareth had to beat them with a soup spoon once, you are not stupid nor hairless. How could they call you hairless? They are bald?"

Cupping Kili's face, to bringing him to face you, looking into his chestnut eyes.  "Y/n, I must confess, that this would not have happened if I did not like you."   And with that you had pressed your lips to his.

"Your eyes can be so cruel

Just as I can be so cruel

Oh I do believe in you

Yes I do" Jareth singing faintly could be heard.